According to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, St Albans was the best local authority for recycling in the 2020/21 financial year, with a rate of 64.2%.

St Albans City and District Council was praised for its achievement by Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill.

‘St Albans City and District Council’s series of new initiatives from textiles to battery collections are an excellent example for local authorities to follow to meet their residents’ high demands for recycling,’ said Ms Churchill.

‘Local councils are crucial in supporting our ambitions to recycle more of our waste and we are making good progress: less than 8% of waste went to landfill last year.’

Receiving the trophy on 11 March, Cllr Anthony Rowlands, chair of the public realm committee of St Albans City and District Council, said: ‘We’re thrilled at being presented with the Letsrecycle Trophy for being top of the recycling league table.

‘We’ve been hoping to win this for a few years now with our performance having improved steadily for eight years in a row.

‘This is testament to all the hard work our waste management team together with our contractor Veolia have put into our efforts to improve the recycling rate.

‘Enormous praise is also due to our residents who clearly share our passion for recycling as they know it conserves precious resources and helps the environment by reducing the need to use landfill dumps.’