10 December 2014
(From l to r) Marilyn Wakefield, Company Secretary and Howard Dryden, Managing Director of Dryden Aqua with their VIBES Hydro Nation and Circular Economy Awards
This year’s VIBES Awards saw a record number of applicants apply across all categories including Management, Changing Behaviour, Energy, Transport, Waste and Resources, Environmental and Clean Technology, Hydro Nation, Circular Economy and Micro Business. An impressive 35 companies went on to be shortlisted and received site visits from the VIBES Judges.
The Circular Economy Award is a new award for the best entry to any category that has demonstrated the advantage of a closed loop (cradle to cradle) approach to material use.
Winner of the Circular Economy Award
The winner of this year’s Circular Economy award was Dryden Aqua Ltd.
Dryden Aqua Ltd is a manufacturing company specialising in water and wastewater treatment. Their AFM (Active Filtration Media) is made from recycled green glass bottles. This product has the potential to alleviate global issues with drinking water and it has a 50% lower operating cost in comparison to sand over a 10 year period. The company’s sales are projected to increase by 250% over the next 12 months once their new facility becomes available on-line.
On winning this award along and the Hydro Nation award, Howard Dryden, Managing Director of Dryden Aqua, said:
“As a marine biologist, I am completely driven by two things: keeping aquatic environments safe and minimising chemical use wherever possible. Our AFM media, which is made from green glass, was designed as a water filtration solution for the aquaculture sector as well as for waste water and drinking water. We basically turn glass into a molecular sieve to take very nasty things out of water.”
“After 10 years of R&D, AFM® is now recognised as a sustainable and significantly more effective replacement for sand. This means we can help industry in Scotland and overseas look after water, by utilising waste green glass which can be used again and again. We were absolutely delighted to win the very prestigious VIBES Hydro Nation and Circular Economy Awards. My sincere thanks to the VIBES team for all their hard work and for this recognition of our efforts and commitment to sustainability.”
The Circular Economy Shortlist
The other shortlisted companies in this category included:
- BAE Systems
- Dry Lube Ltd
- Vegware Ltd
All shortlisted companies were progressed as Finalists:
BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships
BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships manufactures naval ships and aircraft carriers. They have a sustainable procurement partnership allowing them to now design for the environment. They re-use materials, which would have previously been discarded, in the operational process. Design of a new vessel is currently under development and they are involved in a review on how to reduce the use of materials critical to the Scottish economy.
Dry Lube Ltd
Dry Lube Ltd is a specialised supplier of customized Dry Conveyor Lubrication Technology & Services to leading brands in the food and beverage industry such as Coca Cola, Nestle Waters and MillerCoors. The company were recognised due to a cumulative saving of 700 million litres of water globally from the use of their product. The chemical treatment of bio-film produced by wet lubrication is reduced or eradicated and the lubricant reduces friction with the reduction in energy consumption of 10%.
Vegware Ltd
Vegware Ltd designs, manufactures and distributes a full range of completely compostable catering disposables, suitable for food waste recycling after use. Their packaging is plastic-free, low-carbon and made from recycled or renewable plant materials. In 2012, their UK customers saved 464 tonnes of carbon and 366 tonnes of virgin materials. They introduced a free non-profit matchmaking service called the Food Waste Network, to help customers divert used Vegware products from landfill.
The VIBES Judges would like to emphasise how well all of the shortlisted businesses have done in this year’s Awards process and how difficult they found it to choose between them. We would like to congratulate all of the shortlisted companies on their achievements and hope that you will apply for VIBES in 2014.