National anti-litter charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) has created a new award to recognise the creation of clean environments after a survey found that only 59 per cent are satisfied with how clean their own neighbourhoods are.

The Keep Britain Tidy Award will be given to places that are creating clean, litter-free environments, and has named three institutions as its inaugural winners.

The first awards have gone to the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool and the Barbican Centre in London.

The charity, which aims to eliminate litter and improve local places while educating the next generation, launched the award today to recognise ’places that have achieved the very best standard of cleanliness and environmental quality’.

The latest National Perceptions Survey carried out by KBT revealed that 89 per cent of people regard clean, litter-free environments as important but only 59 per cent are satisfied with how clean their own neighbourhoods are.

KBT believes ‘everyone has the right to live, work and play in places that are clean and litter-free’ and has created this award to recognise the creation of such environments.

Winners implementing green practices

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool is planning to move to a brand new building in October which will generate 60 per cent of the energy used on site, making it, it says, ‘the most sustainable 24-hour hospital ever built’.

Following the move, 95 per cent of the material from the old hospital will be recycled. The site will then be transformed into a ‘state of the art health park’, which will be visible from almost all the windows in the building, and ‘handed back to the community’.

The Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham has installed energy efficient toilets and hand dryers and also has numerous charging points for electric vehicles. In 2013, the shopping centre recycled 82 per cent of waste, exceeding its target of 75 per cent, sent zero waste directly to landfill and created energy from the anaerobic digestion of 480 tonnes of food waste.

The Barbican Centre in London, one of Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venues, has committed to being more sustainable through several major initiatives. These include ambitions to send zero waste to landfill and composting 100 per cent of its food waste.

The centre is also planning to introduce a ‘food mile menu’ where all ingredients are sourced from within 250 miles of the venue.

Judging the award

All organisations that manage publically accessible spaces are eligible to apply for the award and will undergo an assessment of all ‘public facing areas’ on application.

KBT assessors will conduct a site visit which will monitor litter and waste management, graffiti, staining, bin provision and the organisations overall cleaning practices.

The assessment will also determine how effective organisations are at communicating with visitors and customers. Feedback will be provided on what actions should be taken to improve their spaces.

It costs £2,000 to apply for the awards, which if won lasts for two years, and winners will receive a visit from a mystery shopper in the second year to make sure high standards are maintained on site.

The award creates a means for recognising the cleanliness of public places and adds to KBT’s Blue Flag and Green Flag Awards for clean beaches and parks respectively.

Winners demonstrated ‘commitment to creating a clean environment’

Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “We are delighted to be rewarding three such high-profile locations with our first Keep Britain Tidy Awards.”

“Our National Perceptions Survey shows just how important clean, litter-free places are to people and all three award winners have demonstrated a commitment to creating a clean environment for their visitors and customers and have proved to our judges that they are managing their litter and waste responsibly.”

“We hope that these three fantastic places will be the first of many to be flying a Keep Britain Tidy Award.”

Zed Major, Facilities Manager at the Barbican Centre, added: “It’s a great honour for The Barbican Centre to be awarded the accreditation from such a well-respected organisation as Keep Britain Tidy.”

“The feedback from the inspection gave us incredibly useful guidance and confidence in the way we engage with the visiting public and our sustainability strategy throughout the Barbican Centre campus, for which we are very grateful.”

“The Award is a very powerful tool to promote to visitors and the public the passion we have for sustainability at the Barbican Centre and we very much look forward to working with Keep Britain Tidy over the coming year and beyond.”