A green initiative spearheaded by Belfast City Council in partnership with Queen's University Elms Village has won top honours at a European awards ceremony.

'Green Week' was named Best Business Project in the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) awards which were recently held in Paris, beating off stiff competition from 2,500 other entries from businesses in 30 countries.

Belfast City Council is the national organiser for EWWR, coordinating environmentally-friendly projects across Northern Ireland during the week-long awareness campaign that runs every November.

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Queen's Elms Village organised a series of environmental initiatives aimed at the 1,800 students and 60 staff who live in the south Belfast halls of residence.

Gwen Finlay, Facilities Manager at Queen's Elms Village, said: "We organised some fun initiatives like a book and board games swap, and a clothes swap. We also came up with a recipe book for using up leftovers and smart shopping tips as well as providing free vegetables from the Elms allotments. I'm delighted that we won in this category as we were up against some pretty tough competition from across the world. I`d like to thank Belfast City Council for their support too."

EWWR is an annual waste reduction initiative that challenges organisations, communities and schools from countries across Europe and beyond to reduce the waste they create.

Last year during EWWR, more than 7,000 waste reduction actions were pledges across 30 different countries. In the Belfast City Council area, 130 actions were pledged from 80 participating organisations.

(CD/GK)