Award hope for dedicated officers

Fingers are being crossed for success in a national awards scheme.

Hertsmere Borough Council has put forward nominations in two categories of the excellence awards run by letsrecyle.com, a leading independent website for businesses, local authorities and community groups involved in recycling and waste management.

Gemma Godfrey, 26, has been Hertsmere’s waste and recycling officer for just over three years and since then recycling rates have soared. She has been nominated for the local authority champion award.

Gemma has led on a number of projects such as introducing recycling services to schools, delivering educational workshops; coordinating the installation of the tetra pack recycling banks in the borough; introducing the bra banks and running promotions such as Compost Awareness Week and Real Nappy Week and Love Food Hate Waste.

She has also run promotions internally for council staff, such as re-use events for staff to get rid of unwanted items, and take someone else's for free and overhauled the internal recycling, replacing desk bins with communal recycling points.

Waste operatives Tony Alexander, Barry Surridge, David Mwesige and Wojciech Frackowiak have been nominated for collection crew of the year. The crew make every effort to complete all rounds in good time and are extremely reliable during the more challenging weeks following a bank holiday or bad weather conditions. Throughout their rounds they stick rigorously to all safety precautions, dressing appropriately and operating equipment correctly according to all risk assessment guidelines. They will always take the time to advise householders on contamination issues and they have a 42% recycling rate on their rounds.

Cllr Jean Heywood, portfolio holder for environment, said: "I am more than happy to endorse these nominations. Gemma is fantastic - her enthusiasm is inspirational - we couldn't have achieved such success without her.

“Our crews work hard throughout the year - in the rain, wind and snow as well as when it's really hot - to collect recycling from more than 40,000 households on a weekly basis. This particular crew has gone beyond what is normally expected of a collection crew, pulling together to provide residents with a top class service. This indeed is evident in the praise they have received from residents and colleagues alike. I am keeping my fingers crossed for them all."

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in October.
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