The National Recycling Awards – the only gala event recognising and rewarding excellence in the waste and recycling community – are calling on companies in the construction sector to enter the Valpak Waste Minimisation Project of the Year category.

Widely recognised as the recycling industry’s benchmark, the National Recycling Awards have been celebrating best practice in the public and private sector for over a decade now, with 2008 marking their tenth anniversary.

The Valpak Waste Minimisation Project of the Year award is open to any organisation, business, community group or local authority that can show how waste has been minimised through a specific strategy, project or process. In particular, the judges will be looking for details of the waste minimisation initiative; data on tonnages and materials saved and why the project was a success.

Chair of the awards judging panel, Paul Sanderson said: “The construction industry is a major source of waste in England, using the highest tonnage of solid material resources in any sector.* Following on from the Government’s Waste Strategy for England 2007 to halve building and excavation waste going to landfill by 2012, many construction companies have started to identify ways in which they can improve resource efficiency and reduce waste. We urge these companies to enter the awards and look forward to a hard-fought competition in this category.”

Full entry guidelines can be found on www.nationalrecyclingawards.com and the closing date for entries is Friday 22 August 2008. The entries will be judged in September by a panel of industry professionals chaired by Paul Sanderson and the winners will be presented with their awards at a celebrity-hosted black-tie gala event at the Telford International Centre on 12 November 2008.