A Salford waste service has been crowned the international winner of Environmental Services at the International Green Awards 2026.
Fresh Start Waste Services is a family-run waste management service who has been named a winner in the Environmental Services sector of The International Green Apple Environment Awards 2026.
The award will be presented at the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, London, on Monday November 23 2026. The award recognises Fresh Start as well as praising the quality of their work.
Sean Martins, Director of Fresh Start, said: “This award belongs to the whole Fresh Start team. We chose not to wait for legislation or accept that mixed recycling was too difficult. We invested ahead of demand because our customers deserve clear evidence, transparent reporting and the best environmental outcome we can achieve for every tonne.”
Before the Simpler Recycling legislation, Fresh Start was leading in renewable and efficient recycling, investing £750,000 in a Kiverco Materials Recovery Facility at Swinton.
The Salford based company has been ahead of the curve when it comes to environmental care. Their investment challenged the industry views of dry mixed recycling being too contaminated or inconsistent to justify high-quality sorting.
Mixed recycling is the process of mixing multiple different recyclable materials into one load contributing to sustainability goals, reducing landfill waste, and lowering disposal costs.
Sean said: “We recover from dry mix recycling approximately 65% to recycle, which tells us the other 35% is classified as residual because it’s unrecoverable, but it’s not spoiled the load. We can deal with levels of contamination, the whole, there’s always contamination. It’s just, is that contamination hazardous? If it is, there’s a problem. If it’s not, it’s not the biggest problem in the world.
“Salford’s our home, effectively, you know, born and bred there. The ownership was born around the Langworthy Road area. So born and raised in what’s probably now Chimney Pot Park. So our ownership, emanates from that area and proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in 25 years of operation.”
Their current facility processes approximately 15,000 tonnes of dry mixed recycling each year. Fresh Start has increased the proportion recovered as recyclable material from around 41% to more than 60%. This has returned thousands of additional tonnes of paper, card, plastics and metals to productive use.
Rather than being sent to landfill, waste material is shredded onsite. This gives customers a clear route for every tonne collected and supports Fresh Start’s zero-to-landfill approach.
