Cheshire West and Chester Council has finished top of the Eunomia Research & Recycling Recycling Carbon Index, making it the best recycler in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in terms of avoided carbon emissions.

Last year, for each of the borough's residents, Cheshire West prevented 120kg of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. That's around 1.2 million kilos (1,200 metric tonnes) avoided by Frodsham residents alone, and over 600,000 kilos for Helsby residents.

Eunomia's annual league table showed that local authority recycling schemes across the country saved nearly five million tonnes of CO2, which is the equivalent of taking almost four million cars off the roads.

Councillor Karen Shore, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport said: "Many congratulations to the recycling team, this is not the first time they have achieved the top spot as overall winners for England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

"I'm delighted they have done it again. We are only achieving such high recycling figures because residents are continuing to support recycling across the borough. By separating our waste at source, it's paid dividends by producing carbon savings."

The Council declared a Climate Emergency in May 2019 and set the borough an ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2045. Carbon-based metrics of the type used by Eunomia in this study can help improve recycling services in pursuit of this target.