Veolia, the UK’s leading resource management company, has taken home two awards at the 2026 Keep Britain Tidy awards in the Community Engagement and Outstanding Service categories.
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Together with Camden Council, Veolia took home the Community Engagement Award for their Eco Leaders programme.
Students at Rhyl Community Primary School were empowered to address fly-tipping in their local area through a 12 week programme which combined education, practical action, and creativity. On-street monitoring allowed students to take part in litter picks whilst identifying fly-tipping hotspots, which they later addressed through hand-written letters which were delivered to 555 households to encourage local residents to dispose of waste responsibly. Along with letters, three anti-fly-tipping posters designed by the students were professionally produced by Veolia and installed as permanent on-street reminders.
The project was highly successful, achieving a 54% reduction in fly-tipping incidents, far exceeding the project’s target of 25%. Participating students were given the chance to present their project to local councillors and the Mayor of Camden, helping to boost their confidence and understanding of civic responsibility. Rhyl Community Primary School will continue to run the Eco Leaders programme annually, and Veolia’s local Education, Communications, and Outreach Team is exploring opportunities to scale the initiative across other Camden schools to create a framework for future community-led environmental action.
Sutton Council and Veolia’s partnership was celebrated with the Outstanding Service Award win for their resident-first approach to street cleansing services.
Veolia and Sutton Council introduced a new, data-driven street cleansing service in April 2025 at the start of a new eight year street cleansing and collection contract. Embedding a ‘don’t pass by’ culture in both the street cleansing and collections teams was key to the success, improving efficiency across all services. Using data from fly-tipping and littering reports, Veolia’s teams created maps of hotspots across the borough, which three new response teams visit each morning to proactively clear fly-tips before residents need to report them. In conjunction, ‘team sweeps’ are deployed in these areas which combine barrow sweepers with cage vehicles to ensure pavements remain consistently clean throughout the day.
The approach has yielded fantastic results, with Sutton Council outperforming national trends to achieve 75% resident satisfaction with street cleansing in 2025 —compared to 70% in London and 57% across England — which represents a nine percentage point increase from the borough’s 66% satisfaction rate in 2019. Meanwhile, service efficiency has improved, with 99% of fly-tip reports responded to within target timeframes.
Pascal Hauret, Municipal Managing Director at Veolia, said: “These two award wins showcase our expertise in delivering both operational and educational excellence on behalf of our Local Authority partners.
“Our teams make a huge difference to both the communities we serve and the environments we work to protect across the UK. We couldn’t deliver these groundbreaking projects without their hard work and dedication, as well as the strong partnerships we hold with Camden and Sutton Councils.”
Councillor Adam Harrison, Cabinet Member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden, said: “This is a brilliant example of young people making a real difference to their neighbourhood. The collaboration between the school, Veolia and Camden shows what’s possible when communities come together around shared goals.”
Councillor Christopher Woolmer, Lead Member for the Environment, said: “When launching our new waste and street cleaning contract, we set out to ensure it was designed with a resident-first approach. This award proves the hard work of the team is paying off.”
