Amy makes Skinner's think green

l Bin there, done that: Steve Skinner has the recycling bug thanks to accounts assistant Amy Heard's practical ideas.

May 20, 2005: Amy Heard, accounts assistant at Skinner's Brewery, in Truro, Cornwall, has proved she not only has a head for figures but for helping the environment too.

Since joining the firm last year, she has transformed the day-to-day green approach of all her colleagues - and inspired investment in more environmentally-friendly equipment in the brewery itself.

“Her approach has been a revelation and she has certainly knocked us all into shape regarding recycling,” said managing director Steve Skinner.

“She has done a brilliant job and everyone has responded magnificently. I reckon we must now be the equal of any brewery in Britain for recycling.”

To show his appreciation, Steve has presented Truro resident Amy with a set of solar-powered garden lights as reward for all her efforts - and spent £20,000 on the new brewery gear. This includes a new cask washing system, with recycling resulting in only half as much net use of water as before - from 4,000 litres a day down to 2,000.

“It’s no exaggeration that this investment has been partly inspired by Amy’s approach to recycling, which has made us all so much more conservation-conscious,” said Steve.

“She has shown us the way - how to think recycling in every aspect of our operations, so that we are achieving the next best thing to a total elimination of waste.”

Following her arrival at the Skinner's base, where over 20 people are employed, Amy quickly set about contacting the various recycling firms for the best collection deals and organised “bins for everything” in the brewery offices. These included an 1,100-litre bin for cardboard, which is filled and collected every week, and a 500-litre bin for shrinkwrap (used for wrapping casks), also cleared every week. Staff also regularly take consignments of glass up the road to Tesco as the amount each week is not enough for mainstream collection purposes. All the shives – the hard plastic plugs inserted into the tops of the casks – are also saved for recycling.

So what inspired Amy to set about it all with such a passion? “I just don’t agree with not doing it,” she replied. “I recycle ‘everything that moves’ at home and when I started at Skinner's I couldn’t help noticing how much cardboard in particular was just lying around and literally going to waste.

“In this day and age, I don’t think you can overstate the importance of recycling or do too much to respect the finite nature of the earth’s resources.”

As well as the more recent innovations, Skinners regularly supply used hops to “any gardeners who want it – it’s great for the soil”, as Steve points out – while spent grain is used as cattle feed.