Yamazaki Mazak UK won the Silver Environment Award at the International Green Apple Awards — for its efforts to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic cups at its European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester.

The national campaign by The Green Organisation recognises and rewards the ‘greenest’ individuals, companies, councils and communities in the country; the winners were announced last month at a ceremony hosted by Liz Kendall MP at the Houses of Parliament.

Mazak (www.mazakeu.co.uk) competed against more than 800 other nominees in the Environmental Best Practice category, but its project — Reduce and Remove Single Use Plastic Cups — “stood out”.

Historically, the factory was using 8,000 disposable cups per month, but thanks to the efforts of Mazak’s Environment Team, the number has been significantly reduced.

The judges said: “The Attenborough effect has taken hold at this factory.

“By giving all employees a re-usable drinks bottle, Mazak has saved purchase and landfill costs, as well as hundreds of thousands of single-use plastic items.”

Richard Smith, European managing director at Yamazaki Mazak, said: “We were delighted to have our efforts recognised at the International Green Apple Awards.

“Something as simple as supplying all employees with a re-usable bottle will make a noticeable difference to the impact our factory has on the environment.

“We hope that others across the industry will follow suit and make similar changes to improve sustainability.”