Cost benefits are clear
June 1st 2004

The Business Commitment to the Environment awards revealed a high calibre of entry with innovative and creative ways to help the environment and save money. A round-up of the awards follows plus Water, Energy & Environment Journal has an exclusive interview with Stephen Timms Minister of State for Energy, e-commerce and Postal Services, who presented the awards

The 29th Business Commitment to the Environment Awards highlighted the diversity in environmental initiatives and emphasised the fact that an undertaking to develop ecological and sustainable practices does not have to be at the expense of business performance.

The Business Commitment to the Environment Awards (BCE) is one of the worlds oldest environmental award schemes, being founded by Sir Peter Parker in 1975. BCE recognises and promotes environmental best practice across a wide spectrum of British business. It is also one of three feeder schemes to the biennial European Environmental Awards.

The BCE award scheme is run annually and aimed at businesses that can demonstrate commitment to the environment, over and above statutory requirements.

The awards are judged in relation to: Degree of Innovation; Commitment shown by staff; Ability for future further development; Ability for actions to be adopted by others; Demonstration of company ethos in practice; Working environment; Evidence of substantive/measurable impact and/or benefits.

The award winners

South East Water has won this years BCE Awards, for their work on sustainable improvements to Barcombe reservoir. For the first time in the events 29 year history, the outright winner was presented with the Sir Peter Parker Award, in memory of the industrialist and environmental business campaigner.

In addition to the outright winners, whose entry focused on their efforts at Barcombe at the foot of the South Downs where swathes of land have been restored to areas of outstanding natural beauty, four premier award winners were also rewarded at the recent ceremony, with a further eight companies collecting major commendations. The premier award winners were: Clinical Designs for their work on a simple asthma drug dosing system; A&E Threads GB for a comprehensive review and implementation of a recycling, energy conservation and pollution control programme; Corus Colours for developing a replacement to lead coatings normally used for fuel tanks and Cleanaway for its green compost partnership.

Sir Anthony Cleaver, president of the BCE award scheme commented: With over three times as many entries as in previous years, the awards were very hard to judge. What was particularly pleasing was the range of organisations entering and the diversity of approaches; from technological innovation to dedicated management commitment.

Sir Anthony feels that the BCE awards play a real part in improving the way British business relates to the environment. Stuart Hill, managing director of AEA Technology Environment, said of the awards: In order for there to be a significant and lasting improvement on the UKs environmental performance, the challenge has to be picked up outside government; by industry, commerce and academia. This is the vital contribution that the BCE scheme plays and why we are proud to be sponsors.