Staff at Suffolk's 18 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) have been recognised for their efforts to improve recycling in the county at the 2008 Suffolk Recycling Awards.

The annual event, held by Viridor Waste Management Ltd and Suffolk County Council, took place at the Fynn Valley Golf Club and was attended by 130 site staff.

Councillor Eddy Alcock, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Waste Management who awarded the prizes said: "Suffolk County Council would like to thank all the site staff for their hard work over the last year. We have seen recycling rates at the centres go above 50% and some sites regularly achieve over 60%. Their efforts in making recycling easier for the public contribute to our ambition to make Suffolk the Greenest County."

In the Best New Site Manager category, Kathy King from the Chelmondiston site picked up the award for the first time. Her rapport with the public has even seen regular visitors to the site bestowing gifts of homemade cakes as a thank you for her efforts.

The award for Most Improved Site went to the staff at the Lowestoft HWRC, where a £600,000 transformation was completed this year a month ahead of schedule and on budget, making it the first indoor, split level site in Suffolk. This has meant that the site does not need to close to the public in order to compact and move recyclate as happens at other sites and this has helped increase the recycling rate there. The site has improved its recycling rate by 18% bringing it up to around 53%.

The highlight of the evening was the Site of the Year award which attracts a £1,000 prize for the winner. The cheque was this year awarded to David Pepper and his team at the Bury St Edmunds HWRC by local County Councillor Frank Warby. The judges were impressed by an increase in compliments received from the public at the site in what is a challenging public facing industry.

The runner up in the Site of the Year category went to Newmarket HWRC, which has many challenges as it is a small site and deals with cross border waste issues.

The service this year has also been expanded, giving the public even more opportunity to recycle more materials. This has included used cooking oil for the first time, which is used by a local firm to be turned in to green electricity.

The Household Waste Recycling Centres are currently managed by Viridor Waste Management Ltd on behalf of Suffolk County Council.