The waste and recycling team at East Riding of Yorkshire Council has won a National Recycling Award.

The team, which manages the collection and recycling of residents' household rubbish, was named as the winner of the Local Authority Success award at this year's awards, held yesterday (Wednesday 8 December).

The National Recycling Awards honour achievements in the UK recycling industry.

The award was won for a campaign to reduce nappy contamination in waste sent for recycling, in a scheme run jointly with the council's registration services team.

The project, which was launched in 2019 and is still going, aims to persuade residents to put their used nappies in the green bin at home, rather than blue bin, as they can't be recycled.

The waste and recycling team created free recycling packs, which the registration services team gives to parents when they register their newborns. The packs include nappy sacks and a 'congratulations' card full of waste and recycling advice.

The campaign - 'Green bin is the place for all nappy waste' - has been supported by social media, press releases and articles on a popular local website for mums.

The awards are run each year by Materials Recycling World, the UK's leading publication and website for the waste and recycling industry.

A spokesman for the National Recycling Awards said: "The judges praised this initiative's different approach to what is a perennial problem for local authorities, by tackling the root and targeting the source.

"The results speak for themselves: a halving of contamination rates."

This award was the first win for the council after being shortlisted at the National Recycling Awards for five years running.

The waste and recycling team was recently recognised for achieving the highest recycling rate of any council in the country for three years running.

Cllr Chris Matthews, the council's portfolio holder for environment and climate change, said: "I'm extremely pleased for both the waste and recycling and the registration services teams for winning this award, and I want to thank them both.

"This is a fantastic campaign and it's really helping to boost recycling in the area, and making sure people use the right bins for their waste.

"Residents in the East Riding are leading the way in recycling and we want them to keep up the good work."