In the FRAME

Pembrokeshire County Council has won a major recycling award.

The Council took the honours at the annual Recycling Awards for the best Local Authority Partnership in Wales for their work with FRAME, the local re-use charity.

The winners were announced last week in Cardiff at the annual conference of Cylch, the Welsh Community Recycling Network.

The Authority was nominated for the award by Pembrokeshire FRAME, which currently holds the contract with the County Council for the collection of bulky household waste items.

This enables unwanted domestic household items to be collected and sorted for re-use or recycling rather than going to be landfilled.

"We're delighted to have won this award," said Councillor Ken Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services.

"The links between ourselves and FRAME have benefited the community both environmentally and socially and we continue to explore ways of developing our work together," he said.

"This win recognises the good work of all those involved and also reflects well on all our residents and businesses who use the recycling service. I must also say that we are very grateful to all those who voted for us both in Pembrokeshire and also from across Wales."

Since the contract with FRAME has been in place nearly 19,000 items of furniture have been reused or recycled across the County.

In the last year FRAME has also provided work practice and training to 191 people and provided employment for 24 people.

And, as well as being open to the general public for pre-used furniture and household items, it also supports disadvantaged households with over 800 families benefiting from free or very low cost packages of furniture last year.

Photograph: Pictured with the award are (L-R) Councillor Ken Rowlands; Diane Bellis, Waste and Recycling Officer, Pembrokeshire County Council; Jenny Simms, Chief Executive Officer, Pembrokeshire FRAME and Councillor Sian James.