Environmental Champions starting to make their mark at Encirc plant in Elton

A champion idea to increase awareness of sustainability matters at Encirc’s Cheshire plant in Elton is off to a flying start.

The Environmental team at Elton, Ricardo Pinto and Aimee Brown, made a call internally in the business to attract representatives from all departments to become Environmental Champions.

The aim of the initiative is for the Champions is to work with the Environmental team to pool resources and ideas so as to drive forward with improved sustainable solutions in areas such as waste reduction, resource efficiency and environmental management.

A great response ensued, a major boost as Encirc, a Vidrala Group company, continues to work towards decarbonising the glass manufacturing and bottle filling process across all its sites.

Another aim of the initiative is to work with the Vidrala Academy to provide certified training for the champions with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

IEMA is the largest professional body for environmental practitioners in the world  and the first such course has already been completed.

At the start of February, Pete Laurence of Coleg Cambria delivered the first IEMA course to the Champions, ‘IEMA’s Environmental Sustainability Skills for the Workforce’ – this was a one-day course with an exam and certificate at the end.

Through a series of practical activities and workshops, this IEMA certified training course explores environmental risks and opportunities, compliance obligations and key sustainability issues.

The course equips the Environmental Champions with the knowledge and skills to make positive changes and improve their environmental performance, whilst meeting the needs of stakeholders in their respective areas of the business.

The plan is to hold the course again for those who could not attend, and further courses are also planned as this important initiative really takes off at Encirc’s Elton site.

Aimee Brown commented: “Environmental Champions within the business act as advocates for sustainability and catalysts for positive change.  Equipping them with the right training and tools not only empowers their own personal development, but also fuels innovation necessary for the business to continuously improve.

“Ricardo and I would like to thank the Environmental Champions for their active participation and for demonstrating Encirc’s values including commitment to our customers, collaboration, high performance and sustainability.”