Carbon cutting and green initiatives by Wokingham Borough Council have helped its highways contractor win an environmental award. VolkerHighways’ Wokingham team competed against 500 other nominees to win an International Green Apple Environment Award by The Green Organisation, for its paper on environmental best practice.
Most of these projects were commissioned by the council following work by the council’s highways innovation forum.
Trialling plastic kerbs made from recycled plastic at several locations around Wokingham borough, using lower carbon asphalt, as well as adopting a circular economy approach (aiming to eliminate waste and reuse resources) and adding five electric vehicles to their fleet were all schemes mentioned in the submission.
VolkerHighways has been invited to have its winning paper published in The Green Book, a leading international work on environmental best practice.
Environmental best practice
“I’m delighted to see international recognition for environmental best practice taking place in our borough by VolkerHighways,” said Cllr Gregor Murray, executive member for resident services, communications and emissions, including Climate Emergency.
“To achieve our goal to be a carbon neutral borough by 2030 we need to work with our partners and residents, and it’s fantastic to see one of our principal contractors helping us to do this thanks to a variety of schemes right on our doorsteps.”
The Green Apple Award is due to be presented to the Wokingham team at a prestigious ceremony at the House of Commons, on 23 November.
The awards began in 1994, and are organised by The Green Organisation, an international, independent, non-political, non-profit environmental group, dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world.
Working in collaboration
Miles Durrant, environmental manager for VolkerHighways, said: “This Green Apple Award is testament to our commitment to environmental change and collaboration with Wokingham Borough Council. Our teams are dedicated to using a range of sustainable initiatives, to help reduce our carbon footprint.”
Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport, added: “We continue to look for carbon-cutting measures across our roads and transport network. We’ll continue to look for innovative schemes, following in the footsteps of our plastic kerb trials and low carbon asphalt, to help the council and the borough be carbon neutral by 2030.”
VolkerHighways has been the council’s highways and transport maintenance and construction contractor since 2019, as part of the Wokingham Highways Alliance. The alliance also includes WSP, the council’s professional services and consultancy contractor.
