We are thrilled to announce that Cherwell Collective has won a 2026 International Green Apple Environment Award for outstanding achievements and best practice in climate and the environment.

We are a grassroots, woman-led organisation building the groundwork for the UK’s first circular economy. As a not-for-profit group, we create change through community connection, bringing together local people and resources to reduce the community’s carbon footprint. Activities for our thousands of annual visitors are sustained by incredible volunteers, alongside our small core staff who oversee education, outreach and scaling of the circular infrastructure throughout Oxfordshire and beyond. Cherwell Collective is the founder and lead of a county-wide partnership: Waste Innovation Station Hubs (aka WISH), funded with a full award from The National Lottery Climate Action Fund.

Cherwell Collective's team and various partners and volunteers pose outside of the WISH Kidlington storefront.

Selected from more than 700 entries worldwide, Cherwell Collective has been recognised among this year’s leading examples of environmental best practice. We look forward to celebrating this award at a prestigious awards ceremony in the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, London.

The Green Apple Awards recognise organisations that are making a significant contribution to environmental improvement through innovation, commitment and measurable action. This latest achievement places Cherwell Collective among organisations demonstrating leadership in environmental sustainability.

Resulting from this achievement, Cherwell Collective has been offered Green World Ambassador status, which would see us representing the UK in the Green World Awards in Fiji. Our winning paper would also be published in The Green Book — the world’s only annual work of reference on environmental best practice — enabling organisations around the world to follow our example.

The Green Apple Awards are organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-profit organisation founded in 1994 to recognise, reward and promote environmental excellence worldwide.

If you know an organisation trying to help the environment, you can nominate them for an International Green Apple Award at:

www.thegreenorganisation.info/awards

For further information about Cherwell Collective and our award-winning activities, browse our website to live, learn, eat, and grow with our community.