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Winners announced - Kārara Awards for industry environmental leadership

Saturday 27 October 2012, 4:56AM

By Environment Canterbury

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CANTERBURY

The winners of the Kārara Awards were announced today at an event held at AgResearch, in Lincoln.

Environment Canterbury Director Resource Management Kim Drummond who presented the awards said it had been difficult to choose the five winners as there were many worthy recipients of the awards.

“A growing number of companies are working proactively with Environment Canterbury with the Pollution Prevention Programme and it is heartening to see the increase in businesses reflecting the environmental ethic,’’ he says.

The winners are:

Hesson and Bowry Collision Centre
Raxworthy European Ltd
Mazline PartsWorld
Plating Solutions
Tip Top Bakery

This is the first time Environment Canterbury has presented the awards, which celebrate industrial sites that have shown leadership in achieving best-practice on-site environmental management.

Paul Gofton, Environment Canterbury Team Leader - Implementation and Pollution Prevention, said it is important to recognise the effort of those who do the right thing.

“Every day the actions of businesses can impact on the environment. The industrial sector is just one part of the total pollution risk to our environment, but because many industrial materials have the potential to cause environmental damage, they have an important responsibility to help prevent pollution.

“Our team at Environment Canterbury has been working with industrial sites around Canterbury to help ensure they have the knowledge and tools to do the right thing.

“With the massive rebuild going on, Christchurch has been a particular focus for us. We have provided free education and advice to operators on sound environmental practice,” he said.

Businesses are also being encouraged to develop waste management plans to assist employees of the correct disposal methods for all waste in order to mitigate their risk.

Environment Canterbury set up its Pollution Prevention Programme (PPP) six years ago to pro-actively engage with industrial sites throughout the Canterbury region.

Today there are more than 1,600 sites participating in the PPP, and this number continues to grow.

“The Pollution Prevention team has made significant progress in helping industry to improve environmental awareness and compliance.

“This has resulted in improved waterway health, reduced compliance costs, and an improved, more collaborative relationship with industry.

“We are pleased to be able to celebrate the contribution made by participants in the programme, particularly the first recipients of the Kārara Award. The Award recipients have set a high standard and we hope others will be compelled to follow their lead,” said Paul Gofton.