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 |
You can read more on the research here.
(Lead image: Swansea Council)
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