Blue Skies has today been awarded its fourth Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise was instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965 and is the highest official UK awards for British businesses. Businesses are awarded in three categories, International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development.
Blue Skies has been given a Queens Award this year in recognition of the company’s pioneering sustainability plan, called the ‘Blueprint’. This is a set of commitments for People, Planet and Profit, designed to ensure the business can meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Blueprint is created through the company’s ‘Measure Engage Action’ methodology, which enables the business to operate a cycle of continuous improvement based on being able to understand our impact, define our priorities and quickly implement actions to improve.
Chairman and Founder, Anthony Pile said “The principles of sustainable development are firmly embedded within our business, however we know there are growing issues of interest among our stakeholders, such as plastics, waste, and carbon emissions. Our Blueprint enables us to escalate focus on the most important areas and accelerate ideas and projects that will enable us to lead the way.”
CEO Hugh Pile said “Winning a fourth Queen’s Award means a huge amount to us and provides great encouragement and motivation for all our people at what is a very difficult time for the business and indeed the world. But it also comes at a very pertinent moment as, not only are we making an incredible effort to address the extraordinary challenges of the present, but we are also embarking on an ambitious new initiative called ‘Project Phoenix’, which will ensure we will be poised to meet the changing needs of our world in the future.”
He added “We’re looking at a whole raft of initiatives, such as sustainable packaging, longer-life products and new technologies that can increase efficiencies across our factories, farms and distribution and reduce our impact on the environment. Getting through the present crisis is our priority right now, but we will keep one eye very carefully on the future. That has always been our approach, and that is why we see a very exciting future for this business.”
