Kerbside waste collectors Gemma Wilson and Kristy Pavitt along with HGV driver Daniel Theuma scooped The Collection Crew of the Year Award in the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management national competition run by Letsrecycle.com.

The trio were nominated for award by the Council for the high performance levels in their collection work, for going the extra mile to help residents with their recycling and the overall positive contribution they make to the successes of the Royal Borough's Street Cleansing and the Waste Collection Services.

Judges were impressed by the track record of the crew which despite collecting 312,000 kerbside bins in 2017 had the exceptionally low amount of missed collections equating to just 0.04 per cent. The team also notched up an impressive one per cent rejection rate, due to contamination from non-recyclable material, for the 1619.82 tonnes collected during this year.

Gemma and Kristy had won praise from residents for their support with assisted collections and for the careful way they ensured bins are returned to properties. The duo also worked hard to identify and safely remove any items from bins which would contaminate recyclable items and engaged residents to give advice around this key issue.

Driver Daniel was also praised for his work to reduce his lorry's fuel consumption and emissions as well as his dedication to enhance his driving qualifications. As the trade union representative the worker also takes a lead role in liaison meetings with management which has contributed to enhancing working relationships within the service.

The crew were honoured a glittering awards ceremony held at the Landmark Hotel in Central London on 10 May.

'They deserve great praise for their achievements'

Steve Eminton the Editor of Letsrecycle.com, said: "The standard of entries this year - our 15th Awards for Excellence celebration - was outstanding. We congratulate Royal Borough of Greenwich Recycling Team, they deserve great praise for their achievements."

'We are hugely proud of their work'

Councillor Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Environment, said: "We are absolutely delighted that Gemma, Kristy and Daniel have won this well deserved recognition for their high quality and dedicated work.

"We have high standards for all our 15 crews and we are hugely proud of their work but this team exceeded both our service standards and the expectations of residents. The crew are also highly vigilant in cleaning up any spillages from waste collections which has supported our street cleansing work.

"We are proud that 35 per cent of household waste across the Royal Borough is now recycled and we are committed to our ongoing work to increase this. With increasingly stringent requirements being brought in by the recycling markets work to ensure kerbside collections re uncontaminated has never been more vital."

Find out more about recycling in the borough