Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation has the won the Caring for the Environment Award in the annual City & Awards Luncheon, hosted by the Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants (WCoBM) and staged in London’s Haberdashers Hall on March 16th.
According to the WCoBM, the award reflects Polypipe Civils’s significant commitment to, and investment in, recycling; its corporate repositioning to Green Urbanisation as an evolution of infrastructure; and its innovations in water management when it comes to supporting urban greening.
Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation has been operating environmentally-focused projects and initiatives for years; with its parent group maintaining a clear strategic programme for reducing material consumption while increasing recycling and renewable energy usage across all its businesses.
Recent recycling milestones reached by Polypipe include: 75% of all consumed polymer being recycled material; the reprocessing – rather than export – of 16,000 tonnes of UK-generated waste each year; 15,000 tonnes CO2 saved p.a. compared with landfill disposal, and 75% of water employed across all recycling and manufacturing being recycled.
Speaking of Green Urbanisation, Steve Durdant-Hollamby, Divisional Managing Director, explains: “In the longer term, our entire agenda is to fundamentally change the supply chain, material specification and construction best practice.
“Green Urbanisation introduces a new generation of technologies that optimises green assets through an extended, integrated sustainable water management network. This includes hybrid solutions that combine green infrastructure such as roofs, gardens and trees with water storage and management systems within urban environments.
“The benefits are multiple: reduced chance of flooding and enhanced drought resilience, increased biodiversity, lowering of the heat island effect, more green spaces and amenities, better air quality, and improved health and wellbeing.
“This award is a great fillip for us, acknowledging as it does our great efforts to date, our significant investment and the commitment of our business to make an enduring, positive, sustainable impact upon on our cityscapes”.
Lakes has also won a ‘Caring for the Environment’ award.
Presented to Sales & Marketing Director Mike Tattam by WCoBM’s Master Fiona Woolf DBE DL, the award recognises the significant steps Lakes has taken to improve its impact on the environment. Lakes is the first in its sector to introduce fully recyclable packaging which significantly reduces waste to landfill and is the first to achieve the Carbon Neutral Standard based on an assessment of carbon emissions for its UK operation. The award also recognises the impact the packaging has on improving efficiencies in handling and distribution.
Mike comments: “This annual event is a fantastic occasion and it was a pleasure to be one of the first supplier members to be recognised for this award. The increasing threat of climate change is a daily reminder that we need to change how we operate as businesses. We are continually looking at ways to offset our carbon emissions and improve our environmental impact.
“We are focusing on recycling all product waste, primarily glass and aluminium, and testing the most fuel-efficient models for our distribution fleet,” continues Mike. “Recently we held a tree planting event at a local school, planting 200 trees as part of our offsetting programme. It’s an exciting journey and one that requires combined effort. So, we’re encouraging other manufacturers in our sector to follow our lead.”
