Major Commendations
Major Commendations 2010
Presented at The Lincoln Centre, London on 8 June 2010 by Sir Anthony Cleaver, President of BCE Environmental Leadership Awards.
RENEWABLES - the route to sustainability
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Elaine Preston, Interserve.
Interserve is one of the world’s foremost support services and construction companies, operating in the public and private sectors in the UK and internationally. It offers advice, design, construction and facilities management services for society’s infrastructure and provides a range of plant and equipment in specialist fields. Interserve is based in he UK. It has revenue of £1.9 billion and a workforce of 50,000 people worldwide.
Following a management conference in 2007 at which Chief Executive, Adrian Ringrose, tasked teams to develop a business case to add value and drive growth for business, the company developed a new Sustainable Development strategy and guide called RENEWABLES, an acronym of ten sustainable priorities that staff should assess to maximise sustainability:
Raw material use.Energy.
Noise, nuisance and dust.
Emissions.
Water.
Adapting buildings for climate change.
Being (health and wellbeing and communities).
Land use.
Economic considerations.
Solid and hazardous waste.
RENEWABLES has driven internal efficiencies, financially and culturally, and enabled Interserve to make a more positive contribution to society. It has also benefitted the company’s clients. Interserve is in no doubt that the initiative has opened doors, which has resulted in new business wins. This is particularly true with clients where sustainability is high on their agenda. By using RENEWABLES to implement sustainable and behavioural change initiatives, clients have achieved efficiency savings and improved sustainability performance.
To see the Interserve video click here.
To find out more about this project, please contact:
elaine.preston@interserve.com
www.interserve.com
RISE (Relaunched Initiative to Save Energy)
Sir Anthony Cleaver (left) presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Simon Phillips, Telereal Trillium.
Telereal Trillium is a market leader in property outsourcing and investment. It manages and provides services to properties nationwide for private companies, local authorities and central government departments. It has 1,000 directly employed people and a further 12,000
individuals who work for its long-term service partners.
One of Telereal Trillium’s clients, The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), wanted to reduce its energy consumption, to move toward targets set by the Government.
In partnership with the DWP, Telereal Trillium developed an energy management campaign – RISE. The objective was to develop a campaign that embedded behaviour change of occupants and staff involved in service delivery and, in doing so, to produce sustainable results. RISE was developed by assessing the obstacles to energy management and addressing them by providing a range of measures and actions to deliver results. The measures include setting achievable targets, providing facilities managers with an energy management toolkit and providing quality management information from smart meters installed across the estate.
The RISE campaign has enabled the DWP to lead the way in Government in meeting its carbon targets and to continue reducing its environmental impact.
For the financial year 2008/09, a saving in energy consumption (electricity and gas) of 13.3% was achieved across 350 of the largest sites against a target of 6% (2005/06 baseline year). This equated to a saving of 43,000,000 kWh and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 13,600 tonnes. Embedding behaviour change into the company’s activities has been the key to continued success and has resulted in sustained savings – which are approaching 20% for 2009/10.
To see the Telereal Trillium video click here.
To find out more about this project, please contact:
simon.phillips@telerealtrillium.com
www.telerealtrillium.com
Nampak Plastics
Bottle-to-bottle recycling
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Eric Collins, Nampak.
Nampak is a leader in the manufacture of high density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles for the food and drink industry. However, its expertise in blow-moulding technology can also be applied to a wide range of other markets including household goods, health and beauty, agrichemicals, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry. In 2008/09, the company’s turnover was £107 million.
Nampak has led a major breakthrough in sustainable milk packaging through the manufacture of the world’s first plastic milk bottle that uses post-consumer recycled HDPE (rHDPE). This process is known as bottle-to-bottle recycling.
Working closely with packaging, dairy and recycling industry partners, the company conducted a trial that used rHDPE in the production of 60,000 plastic milk bottles. Following this successful trial and major investment at each of its seven sites, the company is now adding 10% rHDPE in all of its bottles – about 1.8 billion containers. Nampak also has committed to increase the recycled content in its UK manufactured milk bottles by up to 30% during 2011/12 and up to 50% by 2020.
For every tonne of rHDPE used in the manufacture of new milk bottles:
A tonne of finite virgin material is saved.
A tonne of landfill (and its associated costs/taxes) is avoided.
A tonne of CO2 is saved by the material not going to landfill or incineration.
The company has also been at the forefront of driving the development of the infrastructure necessary to produce food-grade recycled plastic in the required quantity in the UK.
To see the Nampak Plastics video click here.
To find out more about this project, please contact:
Carole.Allen@eu.nampak.com
www.eu.nampak.com
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Jeff Stewart, RM.
Founded in Oxford in 1973, RM pioneered the use of ICT in education. Since then, its range of products and services has continued to expand to meet the needs of schools, colleges and universities. The company’s turnover in 2008 was £289 million and it employs over 2,000 people in the UK, the US, India and Australia.
The new RM One is an innovative ‘all in one’ PC that the company developed after extensive consultation with schools. The product was designed to minimise its impact on the environment and includes the following ‘green’ features:
Recycled plastic is used in the major plastic components (up to 25% recycled material).It is available with ecoquiet technology, which uses energy efficient ‘mobile on desktop’ components to reduce energy consumption and classroom noise levels.
It is ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ certified.
‘Eco mode’ reduces power by up to 4 W at the touch of a button.
The integrated monitor can be removed easily so it can be re-used after the PC has reached the end of its life.
The monitor can be run as a standalone screen using a suitable stand and power supply.
Packaging is made from 100% recycled material and is 100% recyclable. The foam end caps used in transit can be returned to RM for re-use.
Paper documentation and CDs packed in the box have been virtually eliminated.
RM will continue to develop the RM One to reduce its environmental impact further.
To see the RM video click here
To find out more about this project, please contact:
fmclean@rm.com
www.rm.com
The Authentic Food Company Ltd
Continual environmental improvement through utility and waste reduction
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Nik Basran and Paul Harnetty, The Authentic Food Company Ltd.
The Authentic Food Company Ltd (TAFC) produces a range of Indian, Oriental, European, Tex-Mex and British ready meals and snacks. With headquarters in Manchester, and two manufacturing sites and one warehouse in other parts of the North West, the company employs 230 people covering 26 different nationalities and had a turnover of £30 million in 2009.
To conduct its business in a clear and consistent manner and to deliver its environmental agenda, a policy for environmental protection has been introduced. TAFC is committed to the continuous improvement of environmental performance in the following ways:
Reducing energy use.Minimising waste generation.
Considering the environmental impact of all materials used.
Reducing the effects of its activities on communities adjacent to the production sites.
Preventing pollution.
Invest in technology to maximise efficiencies.
An extensive training programme.
As a result of this, the company has reduced its environmental impact in a number of ways including reducing emissions, reducing packaging and improving the use of resources. It has ambitious plans for the next five years to further reduce energy use and achieve zero solid waste to landfill.
To increase environmental awareness and promote energy saving, the company has a mascot called Mr Green. This is TAFC’s primary environmental communication tool and is used on notice boards, posters, CSR booklet, monthly newsletter, intranet and emails.
To see the Authentic Food Company video click here
To find out more about this project, please contact:
paul.harnetty@theauthenticfoodcompany.com
www.theauthenticfoodcompany.com
Cafédirect plc
AdapCC - adaptation for smallholders to climate change
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Wolfgang Weinmann and Whitney Kakos, Cafédirect plc.
Cafédirect is the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company. It employs 38 people and had a turnover of £22 million in 2008.
However, its work goes deeper than selling coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Adaptation for Smallholders to Climate Change (AdapCC) is the first project of its kind to support smallholder tea and coffee farmers in developing home-grown climate change adaptation strategies. It is a three-year public-private partnership between Cafédirect, four of its grower partners and the German Technical Cooperation. While much of the world focuses on mitigating carbon emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, smallholder farmers are not only already seeing its effects, but are highly vulnerable to them, with livelihoods often depending on the harvest of a single cash crop. The project involved conducting site-specific climate research, jointly developing adaptation strategies and, finally, implementing the strategies.
Cafédirect’s business model takes a holistic approach that balances economic, social and environmental responsibilities. From an environmental perspective, this means that it works hard to understand the impacts along the entire supply chain including growing, processing, transport and consumption. With this understanding, the company has created a three-year environmental strategy which addresses each step in the chain: its work with smallholder farmers, collaborations with those who process its products, the impact of its own office, and the impact of consuming and disposing of its products.
To see the Cafédirect plc video click here .
To find out more about this project, please contact:
wkakos@cafedirect.co.uk
www.cafedirect.co.uk
Avon Metals Ltd
Our 20/20 Vision
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Steven Munnoch, Avon Metals Ltd.
Avon Metals is a metals recycling company whose main activity is the production of 10,000 tonnes per year of primary and secondary (scrap) based aluminium alloys in ingot form, which are used to make a wide range of everyday products including beverage cans, pie case foil, and automotive and aircraft components. The company is also an important physical trader of various other primary, secondary and specialty minor metals (including titanium and tungsten).
In 2006, Avon Metals introduced a phased continuous improvement strategy to become a totally sustainable company. Entitled ‘Our 20/20 Vision’, the company developed 20 sustainable development indicators (SDIs) focusing on four key areas – environmental, social, economic and leadership/management.
The 20 SDIs cover a range of criteria including process efficiency, reduction in defects, emissions, biodiversity, waste management and recycling. In all cases, they focus on deliverability and, cumulatively, they are the primary basis underpinning the company’s constant drive and commitment to enhance its performance.
Notable improvements made as a result of the strategy include:
93% reduction in process CO2 emissions.5% reduction in energy consumption.
2,314 tonnes of aluminium packaging waste recycled.
3,144 tonnes of dross (100% of solid by-product) recycled.
ISO 14001 Environmental status achieved.
8% reduction in staff turnover.
A doubling of net profits year on year 2006-2008 (turnover in 2008/09 £31,145,000).
To see the Avon Metals video click here
To find out more about this project, please contact:
stevenmunnoch@avonmetals.com
www.avonmetals.com
Hanson UK
Measham brick factory
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Jim Claydor, Hanson UK.
Hanson is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of heavy building materials to the construction industry, producing aggregates, ready-mixed and precast concrete, asphalt, cementrelated materials and a range of building products including clay bricks, lightweight and dense concrete blocks, and concrete pavers. Hanson is part of the HeidelbergCement Group, a global leader in cement, aggregates and concrete.
Hanson chose Measham in Leicestershire for its new state-of-the-art brick plant due to the central location and long-term reserves of clay. The plant, which is built on a brownfield site, took two years to construct and cost £50 million. It is the largest and most modern soft mud brick works in Europe and encompasses low energy and low waste processes to make bricks with the lowest embodied CO2. The factory is built to BRE Environmental Assessment Methodology ‘Very Good’ standard.
Traditionally, soft mud brick manufacture is more energy intensive than other processes in which clay is extruded. The new plant is designed to operate at 550 kWh/tonne of product. This is about 50% less than the three soft mud plants it replaces and around 30% less than the company’s extruded brick factories.
The plant can produce 30,000 bricks an hour. It operates with around 30 people on two shifts and is fully automated from the moment the clay is loaded in the adjacent quarry. Robots set the bricks before firing, and others de-hack them after firing and produce the finished packs, which are strapped and packaged mechanically.
To see the Hanson UK video click here
To find out more about this project, please contact:
Tim.Barnett@hanson.biz
www.hanson.com/uk
Veolia Water UK plc and SQS Ltd
Supply-chain partnership changing industry standards and practices for sustainable construction waste recycling
Sir Anthony Cleaver presenting a BCE Major Commendation to Tim Minod, Veolia Water UK plc and Maurice O'Connor, SQS Ltd.
Veolia Water UK supplies drinking water to 3.2 million customers in south east England and provides sustainable water management solutions to business and government nationwide. It employs around 2,200 people and had a turnover in 2008/09 of over £370 million.
SQS Ltd provides a high-quality reinstatement/highways maintenance service to major contractors and utilities. It employs 200 people and had a turnover of over £15.5 million in 2008.
The project is a partnership between Veolia Water Central (VWC) and its repairs and maintenance contractor, SQS Ltd. Together they aim to reduce the amount of excavated streetworks waste that is sent to landfill, thus reducing environmental impacts and minimising costs. As the greatest volume of waste is generated when laying new water mains, and when carrying out repairs and maintenance work to the water supply network, VWC and SQS work closely with each other and in partnership with the highways authorities to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of VWC’s activities.
VWC developed industry standards for the use of recycled excavated streetworks waste in highways, beyond legislative requirements, and obtained local authority and sector-wide acceptance for its use in reinstatement works. SQS invested in machinery and processes to ensure full recycling of excavated streetworks waste. From November 2008 to September 2009, as part of a VWC reinstatement contract, SQS recycled 20,463 tonnes of excavated waste for beneficial use, saving 1,978 tonnes of CO2 through zero imports of virgin material and 86% reduction in material miles. The industry standards helped to inform WRAP guidance on the use of recycled excavate in highways.
To see the Veolia Water UK plc and SQS Ltd video click here
To find out more about this project, please contact:
kathleen.lucey@veoliawater.co.uk
www.veoliawater.co.uk
www.sqsltd.co.uk