Wexford and Cavan county councils, a co-op in Co Cork and a waste contractor in the southwest were among the recipients of Repak awards presented by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche in Dublin last night.
Twelve organisations and individuals shared awards in 11 categories. The awards were presented to:
Alcan Packaging, which won best member award for a large company.
Coca-Cola, which picked up the Repak best practice award for a large company by achieving recycling rates in excess of 85 per cent.
The best practice award in the hospitality sector was jointly shared by the Griffin Hotel Group Ferrycarrig Hotel and the Weston Hotel, Dublin. The Ferrigcarrig hotel reduced residual waste by 50 per cent and a 33 per cent reduction in packaging waste while the Weston Hotel achieved a 50 per cent increase in recycling of packaging waste.
Wexford County Council was awarded the Repak best local authority initiative award for its community recycling scheme which achieved a 90 per cent participation rate.
The Repak best local authority winner went to Cavan County Council for new recycling infrastructure.
Newmarket Co-op, which won this year's best practice small firms award for reductions in packaging
Evode Industries Ltd of Dublin, which made its product bags and containers lighter and doubled its recycling rate in 2004 to pick up the Repak best member award for small firms.
Centra of the Tower Shopping Centre in Blarney, Co Cork, sent more than 50 per cent of all waste generated for recycling and won the best practice retail award.
The Repak young recycler award went to Caoimhe Normile, of Tarbert National School, Kerry, for waste and recycling programmes in her school and community including campaigns to target litter blackspots.
The Repak recycling school of the Year went to Edenderry Boys' National School, Co Offaly
Mr Binman, a waste management firm in the southwest, was awarded the Repak recovery operator of the year award. This is the second consecutive year Mr Binman has won this award for its systems and procedures focused on recycling in collecting 100,000 tonnes of commercial material and servicing more than 50,000 domestic customers.