HDC presenting award to Winter and Company
HDC presenting award to Encocam
Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) awarded Winter and Company with a Platinum Award, which is the highest award within the sustainable communities business pledge.
Stukeley Meadows-based Winter and Company, who provide cover materials for premium and luxury packaging as well as books and displays, have continued to demonstrate their commitment to reducing litter and waste. They have increased sustainable practices amongst their staff by providing all of their employees with vehicle waste bags to dispose of litter whilst in their car as well as arranging regular litter picks at the industrial estate.
In 2020, HDC launched the Sustainable Communities Business Pledge award as a trial encouraging businesses located at the industrial estate to take action to become more sustainable. The district council is now looking to develop and grow the scheme by opening it up to all businesses in the district and increasing the scope of the pledge.
The project is being used to create a cleaner, safer and more welcoming environment through business areas within the district. Due to the nature of the scheme, there are likely to be positive, wider community impacts. These could include increased levels of happiness and wellbeing from improved greener local environments, increased education and environmental awareness amongst employees and customers and greater feeling of ownership and responsibility of the surrounding areas leading to overall positive behavioural change.
Executive councillor for operations, Cllr Simone Taylor, said: "We are pleased to see many businesses have now signed up to the Sustainable Communities Business Pledge, making changes to better their surroundings and raise awareness of sustainability issues with their employees.
"Congratulations to Winter and Company who have now achieved the Platinum Award for their continued efforts in making changes and to Encom who have been awarded the Silver Award."
Managing director of Winter and Company, Paul Davinson, said: "To be awarded with both the Gold and Platinum Award in our second audit of the Sustainable Communities Pledge, highlights the dedication of the Winter and Company team to making a positive impact in our local area.
"This also aligns with our global sustainability goals, which include becoming carbon neutral and it’s wonderful to be recognised by Huntingdonshire District Council.
"We endeavour to continue on our sustainability journey."
Encocam, who are also based on the Stukeley Meadows industrial estate, signed up at the beginning of the year and include environmental awareness and litter minimisation as part of their staff training and provided staff with refillable bottles to assist with cutting waste.
Environment and quality projects coordinator at Encocam, Roman Mucha, said: "We are delighted to receive Bronze and Silver awards for the Sustainable Communities Pledge.
"We take sustainability here at Encocam very seriously and we successfully removed single use plastic from our canteens back in March 2020.
"We are heavily investing in green technologies across all of our locations - from electrifying our fleet through Energy Management Systems into Solar Panel Systems. We even grow fruit trees in our car park verges, for the use of all our employees.
"Encocam also won the Gold Award in the Sustainability category at the regional SME Awards 2021. We won’t stop there and we will work hard to achieve Gold and Platinum awards in the very near future."
The Sustainable Communities Business Pledge is free of charge and easy to access. You can complete a short online form and then we will be in touch to organise a date to complete the audit.
Once all elements of the tier are complete, an organisation will have successfully completed that tier of the pledge and begin their journey to becoming a more sustainable business.
To find out more and to sign up to the scheme visit the Sustainable Communities Pledge page.