The Centre for Natural Burial

Andover Advertiser,Hampshire Business

IT does what it says on the can and that’s why it was chosen as one of the winners in this year’s Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Awards.

East Meon’s Sustainability Centre was named as Small Business of the Year, a category sponsored by Business Link, when the awards were presented by Eden Project director, Dr Tony Kendle, at the De Vere Grand Hotel, Southampton.

The centre was established in 1995 to “educate, enable and inspire” people from all walks of life to make positive changes to the way they live and work. Set in 55 acres of woodland and grassland in the South Downs National Park, it provides more than 30 courses, residential and non-residential, ranging from bush craft to renewable energy and permaculture.

The centre, which also provides a natural burial site that’s managed according to an ecologically-sound system, is also home to another of this year’s “green champions”.

Permanent Publications collected the Leadership Award, a category open to previous winners and sponsored by the Sustainable Business Partnership.

The company, which was overall winner three years ago, publishes books, magazines, DVDs and websites which encourage practical action in carbon reduction and greater green awareness.

Overall winner, crowned Sustainable Business of the Year, was Southern Vectis.

The IoW bus company, which also won the section for large businesses, sponsored by Vitacress, impressed the judges with its efforts to minimise its impact on the environment. It has its own carbon management committee whose efforts had resulted in an emissions reduction of more than 10 per cent in the last year.

Projects had included an “Island Thinkers” campaign and the gradual replacement of vehicles with more energy-efficient models.

The micro-business category, sponsored by Hampshire County Council, was won by another IoW enterprise, Rapanui.

The organic clothing firm has a unique “traceability” feature on its website so clients can find out where garments were made and how they were transported.

Marwell Wildlife won the medium-size business category, which was sponsored by the Environment Agency.

The judges had learned how, in recent years, it had changed from a zoological park to become to a holistic conservation organisation, recognising the impact of its operations on the environment and on conservation and taking a leading role in improving understanding of sustainability issues and empowering others to reduce their own environmental impact.

Hampshire-based national charity, UK Youth, was named as the first winner of the Sustainable Built Environment category, sponsored by SMART, and it was its self-funded straw-bale eco-classroom project that clinched the award.

Alan Stevens, chairman of the Sustainable Business Partnership, which organises the awards, said: “Local firms really are leading the way when it comes to sustainable business. Every one of our winners entirely deserves their title and they will I am sure serve as an inspiration to many others in the coming months.”