AN ORGANIC salad farm near Winchester has scooped a top industry award thanks to the rubbish of local people.

Vitacress Salads received the award for its ground-breaking work in controlling weeds and bolstering production with the help of a little green waste from the city's gardens.

Bosses at Winnall Down Farm and Hampshire County Council's waste managers Onyx came up with the idea of using recycled garden waste as an organic mulch that not only stifled the weeds, but conditioned the soil at the same time. Now more than 250 tonnes of baby leaf salad is produced by the company every year and Vitacress have been handed The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers Environmental Award for Production for their achievement.