After weeks of planning the Express team produced a newspaper packed with the usual news and features, but also including several environmental news pages.

There was a green angle to features and the normal blue masthead and page furniture was changed to 'eco-green'.

The paper also produced an Express cloth bag for life which readers could claim for free in exchange for tokens printed in the pre-eco week edition and the eco-edition itself.

A special event, held in conjunction with Wakefield Council, promoted the green edition in the city centre throughout Friday, the day of publication.

Eco challenges of varying degrees of difficulty were scattered across the editorial news pages produced by the Express and newspaper staff also took part, with many leaving their cars at home for the week in favour of public transport or cycling.

A special section of the website was developed to be launched on publication day, which included various categories, including all of the environmental content from the paper, a green blog kept by reporter Lindsay Pantry, who gave herself the challenge of living a green lifestyle for a week, and information about the environment.

A video produced by video journalist Emma Hakier documented the environmental efforts of the newspaper, Yorkshire Weekly News Group (YWNG) and its parent company, Johnston Press.

Group editor Mark Bradley said: "Our eco edition was a fantastic team effort, and the culmination of a lot of hard work and detailed planning.

"Hopefully the features and eco challenges will give our readers food for thought in regards to the everyday life decisions they take, and the impact those have on our local and global environments."