Stroud District Council's waste and recycling service is one of the best in the country - and now it is in the running for two top accolades.

Together with collection partner Ubico, the council has made it onto the shortlist of the National Recycling Awards 2019.

It follows the council being identified by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as the highest performing council for recycling in the South West, with residents throwing away the least residual waste in England.

The council and Ubico will find out in June whether it they have won awards for introduction of food waste collections and cutting waste to landfill.

Mike Hammond, SDC head of community services, said: "We introduced a new collection regime in 2016 to cut landfill and increase recycling, and it is clear that residents have embraced it. We were really pleased to see that everyone's hard work means we have been recognised by Defra, and now we're in the running for these prestigious awards too.

"I would like to thank our residents, and SDC waste and recycling staff past and present who have made it such a success."

One of the council's five main priorities is to help the community minimise its carbon footprint, adapt to climate change and recycle more. It is the first carbon neutral council in Europe and is aiming for the whole district to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Stroud District Council has been shortlisted in the Food Waste Initiative category for its food waste collection, and in the Local Authority Success - Overall Service Change category for cutting waste to landfill.

Latest Defra figures show that Stroud district residents lead the way in England, putting out an average of just 258.6kg of residual waste per household in 2016/17.

The Defra figures also showed that the council and Ubico have achieved a 61.2 per cent household recycling rate - up a massive 15.7 per cent on the year before.

The National Recycling Award are run by Materials Recycling World magazine, and a panel of judges will assess all the entries over the coming month and decide on a winner based on the strength of submission and how close it was to meeting the criteria.

All finalists will find out if they have won a National Recycling Award in June.