We are excited to announce that we have won the ‘Best Mobile App’ award for ProjectDIVERT at the leading technology and innovation business awards in the South East Midlands (SEMLEP area) – The Biztech Bright Sparc and Digital Awards 2019.
Rachel Rowley, managing director at Encore Environment was presented the award by the Director of Wayra UK and Telefonica Open Innovation, Gary Stewart at a special awards ceremony held on the 22nd November 2019 at the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator Hub in Milton Keynes.
Award entries were judged by an impressive cross-section of experts from some of the South East Midlands areas’ most advanced organisations including university directors, bankers, digital forensic experts, councillors and sustainability specialists.
ProjectDIVERT won Best Mobile App by meeting a number of criteria that showcases a technological solution that transforms lives. It has been developed to enable the coordination and management of reusable waste through a structured waste hierarchy. This includes a national supply chain of specialist recycling facilities and social enterprises in need, such as hospitals, charities, schools, and community groups.
Encore Environment works with large construction companies across the UK and they are increasingly taking account of the wider economic, social and environmental effects of their actions.
Using real data from the construction companies’ waste and sustainability strategy implemented by Encore Environment, an environmental audit identifies waste items that can be reused. This early intervention stops the company from just ordering mixed use skips and all waste being thrown in headed for landfill.
ProjectDIVERT is used to make the connection between reusable waste on-site to where it could be diverted, so it doesn’t reach landfill. The mobile app holds a unique database of charities, social enterprises, universities, schools, community projects, recyclers, re-processors, MRFs and landfills. By determining location, and need, the app facilitates the diversion of waste material such as white goods, carpet tiles, crockery and sand. It also ensures all waste that can be recycled such as metal and glass is diverted to recycling and re-processing facilities.
It not only reduces the cost of disposal, it generates carbon savings from diverting from landfill and contributes to local communities, which greatly improves construction companies’ social value whilst fulfilling their KPI’s. The outputs of ProjectDIVERT gives ‘real’ data on the cost and carbon savings generated.
Companies are responsible for the environmental impact of their construction or demolition site, therefore in order to meet standards, gain certification or meet local council regulations, it is important that they demonstrate they are making improvements to become more sustainable. An important factor is that it links to BREEAM WST01 reporting. Many of England’s authorities and large commercial and public sector organisations see compliance to BREEAM as a procurement requirement. As a BREEAM compliant environmental consulting firm, with its own team of BREEAM assessors, this functionality was essential in the development of ProjectDIVERT.
“We are thrilled to have won this award and been recognised in front of such an influential audience for the development of ProjectDIVERT,” said Rachel. “To date we have diverted over 50 tonnes of waste from landfill, and while the app has been developed primarily for the construction industry, there is a much wider scope to expand into other industries.”
The Biztech Bright Sparc and Digital Awards are a celebration of everything that makes the SEMLEP area such a great place for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. It is a leading platform for emerging digital and technology innovations being developed by individuals, education establishments and businesses. The SEMLEP area is well known to be a hive of innovation that occupies a strategically important position, located in between London, Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge.
For more information about ProjectDIVERT contact us here