A STOKE Lacy based company's continuing efforts to reduce their impact on the environment were recognised at an awards ceremony.

Wye Valley Brewery was announced as the winner of the Water Efficiency Category at the Marches Blue Business Awards, an annual event developed by the Environment Agency and Shropshire Wildlife Trust which promotes and advocates business' innovative projects that aim to reduce or eliminate water pollution, improve water quality and cut the use of water within their organisations.

The brewery, who were awarded for the industry-leading and eco-friendly technology used during the brewing process, which dramatically reduces water and oil usage, also received recognition at the event for the cleanliness of their waste water, which is released to the river Lodon via an aerobic digestion system.

The brewery have also diverted rain water from a new warehouse construction to a pond and soakaway, resulting in less treated effluent being discharged to the river.

Their environmental efforts have also been noticed by other brewhouses in the industry, who are beginning to adopt and introduce the new technologies that the Herefordshire based brewery has spearheaded into their own processes, driving the rise of more efficient and environmentally friendly production across the industry.

Managing Director Vernon Amor said: "We work hard to consistently reduce our impact on the environment, with 47% of all energy used by the brewery coming from renewable sources. The efficient brewhouse has been designed with efficient cleaning operations meaning a below 4:1 water to beer ratio, far below average for a brewing house of our size. It's fantastic that the work we do to protect the environment has been recognised, and we're honoured to have been named winners of the Water Efficiency Category at the Marches Blue Business awards."