Watford Town Centre BID are delighted to be an official finalist of the Watford Chamber of Conscience SME Hertfordshire Business Awards 2024, in the ‘Sustainability Award’ category.
The prestigious small and medium enterprises (SMEs) award, hosted by Watford Chamber of Conscience, is for businesses whose personnel numbers are 250 employees or less. The Watford Town Centre BID team is currently made up of just 3 employees dedicated to making Watford Town Centre a safe, attractive & welcoming place, with a great variety of things to do.
As Watford strives to be an eco-friendlier town, the BID have made sustainability one of our core objectives and are committed to supporting businesses in Watford Town Centre in becoming carbon neutral. The BID team are delighted to have been named as a finalist in the ‘Sustainability Award’ category for our innovative free ‘Cardboard Collection Scheme’, launched in February 2023. We collect cardboard waste in our electric vehicle on a weekly basis from registered businesses in the BID area.
The service enables eligible businesses to dispose of commercial cardboard free of charge and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill. The scheme continues to grow monthly and to date we have collected 7.48 tonnes of cardboard, saving 52,360 tonnes of water, or 127 trees, or 29,920kW of energy collectively. We intend to double our collections during 2024.
Fittingly, we have been announced as a Sustainability Award finalist during ‘The Great Big Green Week’ – the UK’s celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. Watford Town Centre BID were also busy partnering on ‘Watford Green Festival’ on Sunday 9 June, encouraging visitors on The Parade to participate in eco-friendly activities such as arts & crafts utilising recycled cardboard from our cardboard collection scheme – further illustrating our dedication to sustainable local initiatives.
Kara Mesiano, Watford Town Centre BID manager, said: “We are thrilled to be announced as a Sustainability Award finalist for 2024, the recognition demonstrates the brilliant work produced by our BID team. Credit must also go to our BID businesses for funding eco-friendly Watford Town Centre initiatives such as The Gift Swap, Watford Green Festival and our Cardboard Collection Scheme for which we have received this prestigious nomination.
The funding from over 400 businesses in Watford Town Centre towards our sustainability projects demonstrates that our business community is very much a key stakeholder in striving for a carbon neutral town. The fact that we can save participating businesses’ money with our cardboard collection scheme acts as a wonderful secondary benefit.
We’d also like to thank Atria Watford for collaborating with us on this initiative by hosting our electric vehicle in their basement, whilst also helping to recycle the collected cardboard.”
Visit www.watfordtowncentre.com and follow @WatfordTownCentre on social media to find out more about the range of projects and services provided by the BID team, funded by over 400 businesses that make up the Watford Town Centre area.
