By Isle of Wight Observer
Red Funnel Ferries is pleased to announce it has been nominated in the Green Initiative Award category of the 2019 IW Chamber Business Awards for Excellence.
The award recognises commitment to the environment and sustainability and is awarded to businesses that are conscious of the way they operate and are changing the way they work.
The nomination recognises the steps Red Funnel has made since launching its three-year environment strategy ‘Red Goes Green’ last year. With many new initiatives to help improve and conserve the environment, a number of changes have already been implemented at the company.
Red Funnel kicked off its new three-year plan by painting its iconic funnel logo green on Red Falcon, as well as changing the livery to read as “Green Funnel”. These actions made a symbolic declaration of the company’s commitment and accelerated the adoption of the Red Goes Green strategy.
Red Funnel has significantly reduced the amount of single-use plastic items used on-board its fleet including condiment sauce sachets, milk sachet cups, plastic cutlery and the implementation of greener packaging made from renewable, lower carbon or recycled materials.
In conjunction with the Environment Centre and Southampton’s Clean Air Network, Red Funnel has amplified its anti-idling campaign to encourage more customers not to idle engines, particularly when boarding or disembarking from the ferries. This includes more banners at terminals to inform customers and increase awareness on the need to improve air quality for customers, staff and local residents.
In addition, Red Funnel maintains three pure-electric vehicles and two Euro 6 diesel tug units for hauling freight trailers; fitted new power management systems that improve fuel efficiency and have more than halved emissions on the Ro-Ro ferries’ electrical generation machinery. Red Funnel employees also took part in an Island-wide beach clean in 2018, pledging £15,000 to support the clean-up of the Isle of Wight’s coastline.
Red Funnel also continues to explore alternative fuel options and developments in propulsion in order to shift its fleet of ferries away from traditional fuels.
Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel, said: “We are delighted to be nominated for the Green Initiative Award, as it’s such an important focus for us as a company. We are continuing to make big strides with our initiatives and work to our three-year environment strategy plan, as well as ensuring our green ethos is incorporated into our day-to-day decision making. It takes time, and there is more for us to do, but every little helps and we hope to continue our conscious effort towards being more green and sustainable as a company.”
The winners of the 2019 IW Chamber Business Awards for Excellence will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 18th October.
For more information about Red Funnel’s Red Goes Green environment strategy, visit: www.redfunnel.co.uk/environment
