Council achieves silver award in national environmental scheme

02 September 2025

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has achieved a higher accolade of a national environmental scheme after continuing to cut its own energy use and waste.

The Council has been awarded Silver accreditation in the Investors in the Environment scheme (iiE) following an independent audit, having made strong progress in reducing its environmental impact over the past year. It means the organisation moves up from the Bronze accreditation it has retained since 2023.

iiE is designed to help organisations improve sustainability whilst saving time and money. Assessors said key achievements over the past 12 months included the Council cutting down its business travel by 40%, reducing electricity and water usage by 6% and 12% and slimming down waste – by just over a third for general rubbish (-34%) along with recycling (-23%) and food waste (-29%).

It also made strong progress in engaging people in its sustainability work, including external events and waste education initiatives, along with notable progress in strengthening its Environmental Management System (EMS) – this is made up of the policies, practices and procedures it uses to manage its environmental responsibilities as a public organisation.

Assessors said the organisation should now look forward and update its environmental strategies and policies to align with the new direction of the Council. WNC is embarking upon a refocus of its sustainability work, led by its new political administration, which removes local net zero targets in favour of concentrating on more tangible and practical projects to reduce energy and save money. Key to this will be continuing with the iiE accreditation scheme to help achieve its sustainability objectives.
 

“It’s great news that our Council has achieved iiE Silver accreditation and recognises the work that has been taking place to cut waste and improve efficiency to make services more sustainable and save money. This reflects the approach we’re taking to refocus our sustainability work on the things within our control and which we can influence locally to deliver better results for our residents.”Cllr Nigel Stansfield, WNC’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Waste