The highest price ever paid for a .co.uk internet domain name has been recorded after "recycle.co.uk" went under the hammer for £150,000. The sale, announced yesterday, breaks the record of £110,000 which was paid by J Sainsbury for taste.co.uk in 1997.

The domain name was bought by ASAP Ventures, a venture capital company, which plans to use the name to launch a company providing UK consumers with information on recycling.

The price is another reflection of the high valuations associated with eco-friendly businesses. Sedo, the internet domain name auction company, which handled the sale, sold mobile.co.uk for £120,000.

There is a growing interest in buying generic internet names such as these in the UK. There are 6m registered .co.uk domain names but a shortage of memorable ones.

Domain names can be registered for only a few pounds but good names are often snapped up by domain name speculators and resold through auction sites such as Sedo. Sedo said the secondary market for co.uk names had grown by 30 per cent in the past year to more than £1.5m.

"Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits in owning a generic internet domain name which is easy for the customer to find and remember," said Nora Nanayakkara, UK operations director at Sedo.

Domain names for .com have sold for higher valuations. Sex.com is reported to have been sold for $12m last year, with diamond.com going for $7.5m.