VERDANT HELPS ANGLESEY ACHIEVE CLEANEST WELSH STREETS

24th February 2009 - Street cleansing crews deployed by municipal services specialist Verdant have helped The Isle of Anglesey top the chart for the cleanest streets in Wales.

In the first-ever all-Wales litter survey, The Isle of Anglesey’s streets scored 70.8 on Keep Wales Tidy’s Cleanliness Index, comfortably above the Welsh average score of 65.

Keep Wales Tidy inspectors surveyed a random six per cent sample of streets within each local authority across Wales. The survey identified smoking-related litter as the most common trash in towns, villages and the countryside.

Verdant has 32 staff on street cleansing duties which form part of its integrated recycling refuse, and cleansing contract for the Isle of Anglesey County Council (IACC). Streets in the Island’s main towns are cleaned daily, while streets in residential areas are cleansed each week, and countryside roads each month.

Describing the research result as ‘a splendid reward for hard work and dedication’, Verdant managing director Roger Edwards said street cleansing is sometimes unfairly seen as the poor relation of recycling refuse services. “Street cleanliness is a very visible indicator of both local civic pride and a committed service team. Everyone associated with Verdant’s cleansing work is thrilled by the news.”

IACC environment portfolio holder, Councillor Bob Parry OBE, welcomed the survey, saying: “This is excellent news for the council and Anglesey. I’d like to congratulate staff in our waste management section and the crews with our street cleansing contractor, Verdant. They must be commended for their dedication and excellent service in keeping the streets and communities of Anglesey clean and tidy.

“As a county which takes great pride in its natural beauty and success as a popular tourist destination, this title should help boost efforts to attract more visitors to enjoy our beautiful, and very clean, island.”

Keep Wales Tidy communications manager Wynne Williams added: “We’re pleased to see Anglesey leading the way in Wales. We found several examples of good practice on the Island that other authorities would do well to follow. The County Council must be congratulated on the manner it carries out its duties and we now hope to see its performance improve year upon year.”

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About Verdant

Verdant Group Plc (www.verdant-group.co.uk), part of the fast-growing, recycling-led Greenstar UK group (www.greenstar.co.uk), provides high quality, efficient recycling, refuse, cleansing and grounds maintenance services for 24 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. It makes over 55 million recycling and refuse collections annually from nearly 1.1 million households, and employs over 1,600 staff operating with 600+ vehicles. Hundreds of staff are participating in a government-backed skills and awareness training programme which leads to a recognised vocational qualification. Verdant’s Arun Green Waste Club in West Sussex won Best Partnership Project at the 2007 National Recycling Awards, and Verdant also won the Best Commitment to Health & Safety category of the 2005 National Recycling Awards.

For further media information, contact:

Blair Drummond, Verdant PR consultant – tel (m) 07798 686 217, email blair.drummond@btopenworld.com