Judges impressed by Bay's sustainable businesses

May 18 2005

Judges impressed by Bay's sustainable businesses

Judges in this year's Environment Bay of Plenty Sustainable Business Challenge were impressed by the standard of entries from the Bay's leading sustainable businesses.

The judging panel of eight reviewed a record number of 49 entries. With the large numbers and high quality the panel were required to make some difficult decisions.

Lead judge Chris Morrison, founder of Phoenix Organics, regarded the 2005 crop of entries as the best he's ever seen. "It's obvious that there are a great deal of Bay of Plenty businesses taking sustainability very seriously". The judging panel made impromptu site visits to category and supreme award finalists. "It was inspiring to meet the people and see first hand the sustainability initiatives they've undertaken".

Even the judging was sustainable according to SBN with a paperless process and the use of fuel efficient hybrid vehicles to undertake site visits. The judging panel comprised eight of New Zealand's leading sustainable business practitioners and experts including Export New Zealand Chairman Murray Davies and environmental product designer Brigid Hardy of BEE.

The awards, which benchmark and assess business performance in economic, environmental and social terms, have been run since 2003. They are the only business awards of their type in the country. A key feature of the awards is the focus on ongoing improvements with each entrant receiving a sustainability report and a recommendation on areas to work on in the following 12 months.

The awards will be presented at a black tie gala dinner on May 27 at Kiwi 360. Well known business commentator Rod Oram is the speaker.

ENDS

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