Leeds City Council has won the Green Council of the Year Award from the Nature 2030 campaign, sponsored by Keep Britain Tidy.
The council was presented with the award by the Nature 2030 campaign at the Political Purpose Awards last week.
The Green Council of the Year award, sponsored by Keep Britain Tidy, recognises councils that have ‘demonstrated exceptional leadership in protecting and enhancing the local environment or that have developed the most ambitious packages of local environmental measures’.
Leeds was nominated for the award for its ongoing response to declaring a climate emergency in 2019.
In presenting the award to Leeds on behalf of the judging panel, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, highlighted the council’s progress in electrifying its vehicle fleet and the carbon benefits of the Leeds PIPES Energy-from-Waste district heating scheme.
Ogden-Newton reserved particular praise for how Leeds has reduced the amount of household waste that ends up in landfill from 26% ten years ago to less than 0.2% in 2025.
We are deeply honoured to receive this prestigious recognition of our council’s dedicated work and leadership towards creating a healthier and more sustainable Leeds.
Commenting on the award, Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor James Lewis said: “We are deeply honoured to receive this prestigious recognition of our council’s dedicated work and leadership towards creating a healthier and more sustainable Leeds.
“We are particularly proud to see Leeds recognised for achieving a near-zero landfill rate for our city’s household waste, together with the progress made to electrify our fleet and deliver an extensive energy recovery heating network that provides lower carbon heating to buildings across the city.”
The council’s waste management service was also praised for its improved recycling services. Leeds City Council says it provides the second-largest kerbside collection service of any council in the UK, emptying over 500,000 bins a week from 367,000 households.
Leeds has met the government’s Simpler Recycling requirements for dry recycling two years ahead of schedule.
The council launched a three-bin strategy a year ago that introduced glass collections through residents’ green recycling bin, adding to the existing range of materials such as paper, card, plastic, plastic film and bags, foil and metal.
Leeds City Council says it sends no food waste collected from Leeds households to landfill.