Belfast City Council has scooped a top waste management award for its kerbside box recycling scheme.

The scheme was named Best Local Authority Recycling Initiative, at the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management 2014, in a year which saw a 44% increase in entries.

The awards, which were held in London last week, were organised by letsrecycle.com and attracted entries from across the UK.

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Steve Eminton, editor of letsrecycle.com, said: "The standard of entries this year – our 11th Awards for Excellence celebration – was undoubtedly the highest we've ever seen. We sincerely congratulate every organisation and individual who was acknowledged as a 2014 finalist, because this an incredible achievement in itself. The judges had a very difficult task selecting the winners."

The council's recycling box initiative is collected by Bryson Recycling and serves 55,000 households in Belfast. It was phased into operation between August and November last year.

(CD/JP)