Environment

New study says Swansea is the UK’s most eco-conscious city for recycling

A new study has revealed the top 10 areas of the UK with the most searches for recycling – and with 831 searches per 100,000 residents, Swansea tops the list.

Published

10 months ago

29th June 2023

Editor

Experts at Utility Bidder have analysed a range of factors including CO2 emissions, environmental expenditure, area cleanliness, park quality, ‘Britain in Bloom’ groups & ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ groups per 100,000 residents, and finally the number of recycling-related searches per 100,000 residents, to reveal the cleanest areas in the UK.

Swansea ranked highly on a number of categories, and leading the way in the UK in terms of recycling interest, recording over 831 searches per 1000,000 residents.

The city also scored well on the amount is spends on environmental services, with the third highest spend per 100,000 population in the UK.

Swansea had the fifth highest score in the UK for the quality of its parks and green spaces

The city ranked 10th overall in terms of cleanliness among UK cities, scoring 6.21/10 – the highest ranked Welsh city.

Wrexham ranked 13th in the overall cleanliness table with a score of 5.84/10. Newport came in at 62 (2.99/10)

Top 10 UK areas where residents are most interested in recycling

Rank	Local Authority	Country	‘Recycling near me’ searches (Feb 2022 – Jan 2023	Population	‘Recycling near me’ searches per 100,000 residents
1	Swansea	Wales	1520	183,000	831
2	Norwich	England	4080	513,000	795
3	County Durham	England	2000	281,000	712
4	Warwick	England	1220	214,000	570
5	Bath and North East Somerset	England	1940	360,000	539
6	Wrexham	Wales	660	132,000	500
7	Aberdeen City	Scotland	2050	415,000	494
8	Harrogate	England	800	162,000	494
9	Telford and Wrekin	England	1350	300,000	450
10	Bristol, City of	England	6150	1,390,000	442

The UK areas with the highest quality green and parks

Rank	Local Authority	Country	Quality of Green and Parks score /100
1	Warwick	England	100
1	Harrogate	England	100
3	County Durham	England	95.83
4	Milton Keynes	England	93.42
5	Swansea	Wales	91.67
6	Cambridge	England	90.52
7	Oxford	England	88.24
8	Sheffield	England	87.5
8	Eastbourne	England	87.5
10	Brighton and Hove	England	85.23

Top 10 UK’s cleanest cities

Rank	Local Authority	Country	CO2 emissions	Expenditure on environmental services*	Clean & tidy score /100	Quality of green and parks score /100	Britain in Bloom groups*	‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ groups*	Annual ‘recycling near me’ searches*	Overall cleanliness score /10
1	County Durham	England	4.0	£20.4bn	87.5	95.83	2	5	712	7.84
2	Wokingham	England	3.5	£9.6bn	83.33	75	7	14	241	7.79
3	Milton Keynes	England	4.2	£8.3bn	67.5	93.42	2	16	344	7.51
4	Bath and North East Somerset	England	3.0	£4.9bn	56.82	75	3	22	539	7.42
5	Warwick	England	4.9	£3.3bn	75	100	4	18	570	7.36
6	Exeter	England	2.8	£1.3bn	79.17	81.25	3	13	402	7.31
7	Harrogate	England	5.7	£3.2bn	80	100	13	7	494	7.01
8	Dundee City	Scotland	4.0	£6.2bn	69.44	80.56	2	8	264	6.82
9	Cheshire West and Chester	England	10.2	£14.8bn	75	75	4	30	212	6.69
10	Swansea	Wales	3.7	£12.6bn	62.5	91.67	1	1	831	6.21