DROITWICH: We cut our landfill waste 90 per cent

Steps such as this have helped Koito Europe Ltd, a Japanese-owned manufacturing company, prove its green credentials yet again.

The company has been re-accredited with a green award called ISO 14001:2004 - an internationally recognised badge of honour for manufacturers, which tells everyone it has good systems in place to reduce the harmful effect it has on the environment.

The company, which makes lights for the car industry, controls the emissions its factory puts into the atmosphere through a permit run by Wychavon District Council.

And the strides it has made in dealing with waste are especially impressive.

In March 2004, the company was using 135 skips per month and is now using just six - which means almost 6,500 tonnes less waste going to landfill every month.

The company works for prestigious clients such as Bentley, Honda, Toyota and Nissan. Car makers are facing more environmental restrictions - such as the End of Life Vehicle Directive, which puts more of the burden of disposing with old cars on the companies that make them - and Koito needs to be as green as possible to keep its place in a competitive market.

Mitch Gibson, health, safety and environmental adviser, said: "The company has a team on site that is committed to ensuring that clearly defined objectives and targets relating to the environment are set and achieved.

"The major focus for 2007 is on reducing the firm's energy consumption.

"The company already enjoys a substantial discount on energy charges, as part of the climate change levy, through committing to and achieving Government specified targets."

The company is committed to reducing the amount of waste produced at the Droitwich site, through a rigorous recycling and reclamation policy, whereby the vast majority of manufacturing waste is dealt with by specialist waste recycling companies.

The company also recycles 10 per cent of the plastic moulded waste generated through the manufacturing process itself.