What a year! Dennis to the Rescue wins big at the National Recycling Awards

From left to right: Paul Sinha, Comedian and Presenter, Ash Sharma, Author and Founder of SKIPS Educational, Lee Rowland, Sales and Marketing Manager at Dennis Eagle, Ketna Mistry, Senior Digital Marketing Executive at Dennis Eagle, amd Andrea Lockerbie, former MRW associate editor and industry journalist.

One of the most highly anticipated events in the waste and recycling calendar, Material Recycling World’s National Recycling Awards (NRAs) celebrates the biggest and best innovations and achievements across the industry. With more than 600 industry leaders in attendance year-on-year and over 20 categories, 2025’s awards ceremony was no different, emceed by professional quizzer and comedian, The Chase’s Paul Sinha.  

Dennis Eagle was selected as a finalist in its category of ‘Social Value Award: Education, training and development’ due to the successful introduction of our increasingly popular sustainable schools initiative, dubbed Dennis to the Rescue. A much-loved educational resource, the Dennis to the Rescue mobile classroom is used all over the UK to help drive behavioural change by encouraging positive conversations around waste and recycling and improving people’s understanding of sustainable waste management. 

“It’s an honour to have won the award and been recognised for the initiative’s success at the NRAs,” said Lee Rowland, Sales and Marketing Manager, Dennis Eagle. “It’s been a long journey to get the mobile classroom to where it is today, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome. The team was over the moon with the win and has celebrated accordingly. I’m happy to say the award itself now has pride of place in our Warwick office.”  

From left to right: Andy McKinlay, Quality Control Manager, El Cook, Marketing and Office Manager, Beth Garden, Senior Copywriter, Niall Salmon, Digital Marketing Executive, Danielle Nelson, Brand and Communications Manager, Ketna Mistry, Senior Digital Marketing Executive, Lee Rowland, Sales and Marketing Manager, Sam Derrick, Business Administrator, and Charlie Thomas, Senior Quality Engineer.

A team effort 

We’re incredibly proud of this unique initiative and very grateful to the team that helped bring it to life, from everyone within our business who has contributed to its success, to Oxford Specialist Coachbuilders who kitted it out with exciting new features, to Creative Vehicle Wrapping who provided the bright colourful wrap that consistently turns the heads of local communities across the country.   

A particular thank you goes to SKIPS Educational, our valued partner from the very beginning of the programme. Their dedication and support in providing engaging educational assets that enhance the learning experience for councils and local schools, including booklets, leaflets, and animations, has been invaluable and we are exceedingly grateful to work alongside them.  

Finally, a huge thank you to all of our customers, partners, and the schools who have used the mobile classrooms in their sustainability campaigns. It is truly rewarding to see the impact the truck is having, with its popularity surpassing all expectation. The classroom is already completely booked up until the end of 2026! 

A year of recognition 

We’re honoured to be ending this year’s awards season on a considerable high with yet another win. The NRAs placed us on a shortlist alongside such respected names as Biffa, Veolia Hammersmith and Fulham, Cory Group, Sortera UK, and a highly commended Revival London. Winning in this category is testament to the passion, devotion, and hard work put in by the team to turn this vision into a reality.  

This follows a whole year of exciting award submissions, nominations, and a few wins. At the very start of the year, Dennis Eagle’s Blackpool office also came out on top at the Lancashire Red Rose Awards, having scooped two. We won the Commitment to Skills Award, which noted Blackpool’s dedication to workforce development and training, and the Collaboration Award, yet another win off the back of our incredible work with the Dennis to the Rescue sustainable schools initiative.  

Our apprentices have also received impressive recognition this year, with Sean Williams named Advanced Graduate Apprentice of the Year in February and Ollie Macvarish receiving Mechanical Apprentice of the Year at this month’s Midland Group Training Services (MGTS) Apprenticeship Awards. In addition to this, Dennis Eagle was also the recipient of the prestigious Employer Recognition Award at MGTS, a fantastic acknowledgement of our outstanding contributions to engineering apprenticeships over the years.  

With regards to our successes as a finalist in some very competitive award categories across 2025, we were shortlisted for: 

• Make UK: Manufacturing Impact Award – for our Dennis to The Rescue mobile classroom initiative 

• Make UK: Health, Safety and Wellbeing Award – celebrating the incredible efforts of our H&S and Wellbeing teams  

• Make UK: Business Apprentice: Rising Star – Olivia Deehan was nominated for her commitment and excellent achievements throughout her apprenticeship 

• Be Inspired Business Awards (BIBAs): Business of the Year 

• Be Inspired Business Awards (BIBAs): Manufacturer of the Year 

• Letsrecycle Award for Excellence: Energy Initiative of The Year - Blackpool 

• Engineering Development Trust: Gold Mentor of the Year – Tim Pritchard was highly praised for his efforts towards the Industrial Cadets Gold Project 

• Preston College Exceptional Apprentice and Employer Awards: Olivia Deehan was awarded Highly Commended in the Business and Management Apprentice category 

Overall, this year has been an exceptional one for seeing our business receive the recognition it deserves across multiple facets of the organisation. We’ve already started the ball rolling for 2026’s awards season; we can only hope to do even better next year.