The award was presented at a prestigious carbon-neutral ceremony at the House of Commons on Monday November 14 by former Dragon’s Den contestant, Chris Hopkins, who received funding from investors Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis for his solar panel business, Ploughcroft.
(Pictured are Greg Parton and Tara Greaves with Archant’s Green Apple award.)
Archant was the only gold winner in the print and publishing category for environmental best practice. The award was collected by Greg Parton, Archant’s group head of procurement and sustainability and Tara Greaves, Archant’s sustainability correspondent.
Greg said: “We are delighted that Archant’s efforts to become more sustainable have been recognised in this way. We are working hard to make improvements in every area of the business but we couldn’t do it without the support of staff so this award is testament to their efforts.”
The strategy includes encouraging fleet drivers to use greener vehicles with a financial incentive, installing wind powered air conditioning as a pilot scheme at the main Prospect House office in Norwich and cutting energy usage at the Print Centre together with initiatives such as Cup Man to boost recycling.
The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and have become established as the one of the country’s best ways to recognise environmental endeavour.
Organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-political, non-activist, non-profit environmental group, the awards are judged by members of the Environment Agency and other bodies.
Archant also received news recently of its placement in a league table for the government’s controversial CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, which is a mandatory carbon trading scheme for all organisations that meet certain requirements.
The table, published by the Environment Agency, shows Archant is in the top third of all the participants.
Greg added: “I’m pleased to see that Archant has a reasonably high placing in the league table; it shows we are better than most but that there is also still room for improvement.”
