The Winsford plant of Henkel Limited (UK) has won first place in the British Business and the Environment 2001 Awards. The aim of this scheme is to recognize and reward companies who have improved their environmental performance while simultaneously increasing their profitability. The Winsford site was honored for an environmental project which succeeded in reducing both the volume and the pollutant load of wastewater by nearly one third. Thanks to reduced effluent disposal costs and process optimization the company saves more than 150,000 euros per year.

This successful advance in sustainability started in 1998 with a joint project in which Henkel formed a team with the water utility, universities and local schools to track trade effluent. Based on the data collected, an extensive improvement program was drawn up and put into practice with a high level of involvement by all employees.

The environment award scheme, which is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was set up in 1997. It presents awards annually to businesses in both the large and medium sized enterprise categories.