ECO Stars News
BARNSLEY ECO STARS SCHEME STRIKES GOLD AT PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL GREEN APPLE AWARDS!
November 2009
The ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme has recently been awarded a Gold Green Apple Award for Local Authority Environmental Best Practice.
The team at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) who developed the scheme were invited to attend the prestigious Green Apple Award Ceremony at The House of Commons in mid November, and were delighted to discover they had struck gold, winning the top prize and beating other Metropolitan Borough Councils, despite the fact that the scheme is less than a year old.
The Green Apple Awards are in their fifteenth year and are well established as one of the major environmental recognition schemes, both in the UK and Internationally. All winners are put forward to represent the UK in the European Business Awards for the Environment.
Alan West who developed the ECO Stars scheme in his role as Principal Transportation Officer at BMBC, attended the awards ceremony with colleagues from Barnsley. “I am so pleased the ECO Stars Scheme has been recognised for what it has achieved in such a short amount of time. We are so proud of the impact that ECO Stars has already made, with over 3600 vehicles signed up; we are now looking forward to signing up our 20th member in 2010. It is fantastic that Barnsley and South Yorkshire has received this kind of recognition for our environmental best practice.”
Initially developed as part of the South Yorkshire Care4Air air quality campaign, the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme was launched in January 2009, the first of its kind in the UK. The free scheme encourages commercial operators of buses, coaches, HGVs and LGVs to implement operational best practice in fleet management. Whilst ECO Stars covers South Yorkshire, it has signed up members from beyond the area whose fleets operate significantly within the region. These companies have quickly taken up the opportunity to join the scheme that offers them the opportunity to reach five-star status for their fleet management systems; members include Stagecoach, Veolia Environmental Services, Berneslei Homes, Barnsley MBC and Archbold Logistics.
The Green Apple Award judges recognised the ECO Stars Scheme’s commitment towards highlighting issues surrounding environmental impact, as well as providing information and advice to individuals and companies helping them to minimise their carbon footprint.
If you are interested in finding out more about the scheme, its benefits and how to sign up, call the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme Team on 01543 416 416 and quote ‘ECO Stars’. Alternatively, email [email protected]