The best investment of Packaging Waste Recovery Notes (PRNs) award was presented to the company for its investment of £1.1m of Valpak member funding in recycled wood chip cleaning technology at the Merseyside factory.
Former BBC political correspondent John Sergeant presented the prize, sponsored by Coca Cola Enterprises, at the Valpak Recycling Awards in London, designed to recognise the best or most innovative packaging recycling or waste minimisation programmes during 2005.
Sonae UK’s managing director Tony Hackney described the award as “important” as it demonstrated the environmental sustainability of the company.
“The days are gone when a company can go ahead and ignore this aspect of the business. We are very effective at looking for ways to promote environmental sustainablity and environmental credentials and helping give the market what it wants,” said Mr Hackney.
Mr Hackney said Sonae was already the largest accredited wood recycler in the UK, with the Merseyside plant using more than 95% recycled fibre.
Valpak PRN funding was part of £6.5m Project Wear, designed to grow production and reprocessing capacity at the factory. The project has boosted output by more than 3,500 tonnes each month.
New chip cleaning and sorting machinery was installed, as the high proportion of recycled woodchips had caused excessive wear to existing plant equipment. Stack clean-up and dispersion equipment reduced emissions.
However, Mr Hackney said the government’s decision not to raise wood industry recycling targets meant it was more difficult to sustain further investment in recycling.
