Green Building

• Earthship Brighton
• The Linklater Pavilion
• Brian Foster Environment Building

Green Business

• Firefly Solar CIC
• Mid Sussex Wood Recycling Project
• EcoGarage

Green Champion

• Ben Law
• Ben Sherratt
• Dr John Parry

Community and Campaign

• East Sussex Energy Partnership
• Portslade Green Gym
• South Downs Campaign

Foodie of the Year

• Crumbs of Sussex
• Due South
• Nourish Organic Farms

Green School

• Birdham C of E Primary School
• Hertford Junior School
• Ringmer Community College

Volunteer of the Year

• Cat Fletcher
• Steve Wallis
• Trevor Weeks

Young Environmentalist

• Zach Narvaez
• Liam Russell

Ticket details to follow shortly (we’d already had tickets printed before the changes and are just considering how best to avoid wasting them…)

The full event details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday 15 September

Time: 7pm

Location: Sussex County Cricket Club, Eaton Road, Hove.

He helps run an “Eco-Check” scheme at school, visiting classrooms at lunchtime to check which teachers have turned off lights and computers and measuring the power consumption. This check is followed up with a name and shame at school assemblies, whilst good teachers are given certificates and encouragement to do more. There are awards for staff who have done the best, and booby prizes for those who have done badly.

At school, Zach is on the eco board, and has been involved in tree planting exercises, a project looking after sheep on school land and numerous other tasks. He also attends external events on the school’s behalf.

His mum is very supportive “the scheme is hilarious, whenever I go to parent night they’re petrified of him, dread him coming in – they know they’re being monitored. He’s not scared to come forward, he’s not scared of who he is. He has no qualms about standing up in assembly and naming and shaming the teachers.”

She said “He’s one of those kids, whatever he does to the max, he gives up his own time, puts his whole heart in to it. I’m really proud of him.”

Zach will be interviewed as a nominee for head boy, although some staff may not be so sure, his mum says “teachers tell me “we hate it when we see your son, it makes us worry!”

Looking to the future, Zach wants to emulate Richard Branson and start a travel company, albeit one with a twist. He wants to own his own eco travel company, ensuring that all his holidays are environmentally friendly.

The first week of July has seen us working flat out to profile everyone who is up for an award, and you can browse them on this ‘ere site. It’s been no easy task though (125 x 300 words = 37,500 words. That’s almost a novel) and we’re still waiting on a few, but the remaining stragglers should turn up any day now.

Feel free to leave comments for your favourite entries and the judges will be perusing the site during July and scoring each entrant in order to make the short list.

The scoring works like this: each entrant is assessed using the One Planet Living principles and is given a mark out of ten for each one. If a particular principle doesn’t apply to a certain business -  for example, a project to reclaim WEEE can’t really be judged on sustainable food – then no mark is given. The final score, however, is worked out as an average, dividing by the number of criteria judged on rather than the number of criteria available, so no one is marked down unnecessarily.

Here’s an example for a made up company called BirdCo, which campaigns to make life better for our feathered friends.

Zero carbon: 5/10
Zero waste: 7/10
Sustainable transport: 4/10
Local and sustainable materials: 8/10
Local and sustainable food: 8/10
Sustainable water: 4/10
Natural habitats and wildlife: 10/10
Culture and heritage: no score
Equity and fair trade: 6/10
Health and happiness: 7/10

The final score is 50% + 70% + 40% + 80% + 80% + 40% + 10% + 60% + 70% / 9 = 55.55

The top three entrants in each category then become the short list.

One important thing to remember here is marking is subjective, not qualitative. This isn’t about who makes the most money or drives the shiniest hybrid car. It’s about who’s making a difference in the best way they can. We’ve picked the judges for their deep knowledge around the issues of sustainability and the environment and to represent a good mix of thoughts and opinions. It’s kind of like peer reviewing, only with pretty trophies at the end.

We are aware that our own employees attach much importance to this issue and of their personal efforts to improve the environment, both in the workplace and in the local community.

We have tried to make our new office buildings at City Park, Hove as eco friendly as possible. The office is completely motion sensored so the lights switch off when there is nobody in the rooms for a period of time. The rainwater which falls onto the roof of the buildings is stored in the basement and used as ‘grey water’ for flushing the toilets and the building has been fitted out using sustainable timber. Even the carpet, furniture and IT equipment is selected on its environmental merit.

Reminders to switch off computers and unplug chargers flash up as part of the shut down process. We have re-cycling points for paper, plastic cups, bottles, cans throughout the buildings and we are now recycling 77% of our waste from City Park.

By supporting and encouraging these genuine initiatives we hope that we can extend our environmental influence beyond our own activities, and make a positive difference to the communities in which we are located.

As a major local employer we are pleased to be supporting the Argus Eco Awards this year, As sponsors of the ‘Young Environmentalist Award’ we are impressed by the standard of entries and the commitment and understanding shown by the entrants.

www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/csr/csr.cfm

Last year, we set up a Carbon Reduction Team to ensure systems were in place to manage our carbon footprint and meet Government targets.

During 2009-10, we were accredited with the Carbon Trust Standard in recognition of our efforts to mitigate our carbon emissions – last year we saved 12.9 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide from generating renewable energy.

We have also joined the government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme and have signed up to the initiative Pathway to Zero Waste in a bid to halve the amount of waste we send to landfill from construction, demolition and excavation schemes by 2012,

More green electricity than ever before is being generated from sewage. We have installed Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units at two more of our wastewater treatment works to generate additional renewable electricity from sewage. This brings our total of CHP units to 13. Together these new units have the capacity to enable us to generate up to 13 per cent of the electricity we use from renewable and sustainable sources.

A further unit will also be installed at our new multi-million pound treatment works in Sussex to serve Brighton and Hove and the surrounding areas. Our target is to produce 20 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Across the South East, we continue to maintain our excellent performance at our wastewater treatment works and we have launched an awareness campaign to stop fat, oil and grease being poured down sinks and causing sewer blockages.

In the community, we support environmental groups such as the West Sussex Beach Wardens and the Rudgwick Biodiversity Project.

www.southernwater.co.uk

]]> http://www.sussexecoawards.org.uk/2010/07/southern-water/feed/ 0 http://www.sussexecoawards.org.uk/2010/07/clarity-environmental/ http://www.sussexecoawards.org.uk/2010/07/clarity-environmental/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:00:03 +0000 admin http://79.170.44.138/sussexecoawards.org.uk/?p=292 Established in 2002 by David Adams, Clarity is a multi-disciplined environmental organisation, specialising inproducer compliance and recycling. The Adams family have been involved in this line of business since 1933, and whilst it initially focused on the sale of packaging recycling notes (PRNS), Clarity rapidly expanded and evolved and now offers further services including car battery take back, compliance schemes and waste disposal. As a company, Clarity works within ‘green’ regulations; producer responsibility encourages business to take a good look at the amount of packaging they use and their levels of energy consumption. Our company location is energy efficient too, with wind-powered lighting and an extensive internal recycling policy. Clarity also funds a charity, Restored Earth, which decontaminates land, restores it, and then turns it into an open public place.

Clarity are excited to be proud sponsors of this years Sussex Eco Awards. The awards are about celebrating the effort Sussex citizens have made in achieving a greener and fairer world, and Clarity has chosen to put its full support behind ‘Green Business of the Year’ – something which is obviously very important within our own company. Many companies and people in the Sussex area are making a real effort to become more ‘green’ and environmentally friendly, and we are delighted to help support and celebrate this.

www.clarity.eu.com

With a high media profile, and a wealth of experience they aim to create beautiful designs with a minimum impact onto the environment.

www.oliverheath.com