New research has uncovered which UK cities are the most eco-friendly, with Bristol taking top spot.
The analysis, carried out by sustainable toilet roll subscription service Oceans, calculated the number of EV charging points and littering reports per 100,000 people in each location, the average distance to the nearest park, the percentage of annual waste that’s recycled, and average monthly searches around key terms relating to eco-living per 100k.
Each location was then given an index score based on all five metrics, determining the final ranking.
Findings show that Bristol is the most environmentally friendly UK location, performing well across most ranking factors, having the second-highest average monthly searches of any city (494) and a recycling rate of 47%.
Sheffield places second with the South Yorkshire city having a relatively high number of searches for key terms, a healthy amount of EV charging points, and boasting a short average distance to the nearest greenspaces or parks.
The third position is shared between Cheltenham and Birmingham, with both having similar numbers for search volume, average distance to parks, and littering reports.
Milton Keynes and Solihull rank in joint fourth place, performing similarly across most metrics, except search volume, where the former’s was significantly higher, and average distance to greenspaces/ parks, which saw the latter boast a much shorter journey for its citizens.
Three locations tie in fifth, with the honours shared between Exeter, Reading, and Cambridge as all three had similar stats for all data points.
Sixth place also sees three cities gain the same score, as Oxford, London, and Coventry rank next. All boast impressive stats across various metrics with Oxford having the highest waste recycling percentage (57%), the capital being one of the places with the lowest average distance to a park (393m), and Coventry surprisingly being the place with the most EV charging points per 100k.
Manchester and Leeds place in seventh, with both having vastly different across the ranking categories, which evened out to give them the same overall score.
Liverpool ranks next, becoming the final city in the North of England to make the top 10. Despite scoring strongly on distance to parks, EV charging points and search volume, the Merseyside city was let down by its recycling rate of just 37%.
Scotland’s largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh follow, sharing ninth spot with Brighton as all three rank closely on every metric used for the study.
Lincoln and Swansea complete the top 10 with very little to separate the two across the data, except in the distance to parks, where the former performed better, and search volume which saw the latter come out on top.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson for Oceans said: “This study has certainly shown us that no particular region of the UK is better than any other, with the top 10 containing cities from every corner of the country.
“It has become clear that all UK cities have room for improvement in one area or another, whether installing more EV charging points to keep up with demand or implementing more recycling initiatives to increase the amount of waste being sustainably reused.
“We hope this study will highlight the particular areas where cities need to improve and spark action to address these shortfalls in eco-friendly infrastructure.”
To view the full findings from this study, please visit: https://myoceans.co.uk/eco-city/
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