During Recycle Week Cawleys reveals that eco-friendly business is more important than ever in Beds, Herts, Bucks and Northants

New research reveals that 9 out of 10 business in Beds, Herts, Bucks and Northants believe it is important that their organisation becomes more eco-friendly. This is for a variety of reasons including environmental protection and customer and employee expectations.

The research carried out by Luton based recycling firm, Cawleys, reveals that almost 7 out of 10 (68%) local businesses believe it is ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important to their customers that their business demonstrates green credentials and environmental awareness. Interestingly, the same number believe that environmental awareness and green credentials are also ‘very’ or ‘highly’ important to their employees.

These findings, generated by Cawleys Local Green Business Survey are released during RECYCLE WEEK, an initiative championed by WRAP designed to highlight the importance of recycling and encourage businesses and individuals step up their recycling rates.

The organisations surveyed as part of the research were asked which sustainability measures were most important to them. Reducing waste was most popular and was chosen by over 70% of companies. Reducing carbon footprint and recycling more were the next most chosen strategies, with carbon offsetting, reducing road miles and employing greener energy, emerging as the least popular sustainability measures.

Businesses were also asked which environmental actions would make the most positive impact on their brands’ reputation. Recycling more plastic and card, alongside reducing landfill were seen as the most important, whilst litter picking and carbon offsetting were thought to have the least impact on brand.

Commenting on the findings, Anna Cawley, Cawleys Director of Customer Service said: “These further findings from our recent Local Green Business Survey show just how important green credentials are to customers and employees of local businesses. This snapshot of business at a local level shows just how eco-aware businesses in Beds, Herts, Bucks and Northants really are.

It also shows that people want real and tangible solutions with measures such as waste reduction and active recycling featuring far more prominently than other carbon reduction methods.

Recycle Week is now in full swing and the recent stats released by WRAP including their confirmation that “recycling saves a total of 18 million tonnes of CO2 a year in the UK” – demonstrates that recycling is often the easiest and most effective way of combatting environmental issues, and we are proud to be helping so many businesses recycle as much as possible.”