WARRINGTON'S industry is cleaning up its act, according to a new report by Friends of the Earth.

The environmental group has launched 'Factory Watch,' a campaign to reduce the public's exposure to health-threatening pollution. This includes a league table of the country's worst polluters, of which the majority are located in the North West.

Warrington has performed well in the survey and did not feature in the worst 100 factories, though the town is surrounded by factories in Runcorn and Widnes which feature highly in the tables.

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of Warrington Borough Council, said: "We are obviously delighted that there are no Warrington based companies in the top 100.

"However, environmental issues will continue to be a priority for the council, as highlighted in the recently published community plan."

A spokesman for one of Warrington's biggest factories, Lever Brothers, confirmed that the company is doing its best to look after the environment.

They said: "Lever is committed to meeting the needs of customers and consumers in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner through continuous improvement in environmental performance in all our activities.

"The Warrington site has recently gained accreditation to the International Environmental Management Standard ISO14001. This is the recognised standard that companies try to achieve."

The data used by Friends of the Earth for Factory Watch was supplied by the Environment Agency, but the environmental group is calling for better information for the future.

A spokesman said: "This data only covers releases from large factories.

"It does not detail releases from smaller factories which may be responsible for 60 per cent of pollution, nor does it detail releases from other polluting sources such as sewage treatment works or landfill sites."

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