EMAS Catalunya 2023 Awards

The EMAS Club with the support of the Government of Catalunya have organized the EMAS Catalunya 2023 Awards. The event has been held in Barcelona on November 23^rd and it has been an opportunity for EMAS registered organizations in region to meet.

The EMAS Awards is an event that highlights the value of the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, the registered organisations, their achievements and initiatives and it is also a meeting and exchange point to get inspired, copy good ideas and continue advancing in environmental improvement together, as well as an opportunity to strengthen the EMAS community.

Candidates presented their actions within 4 categories:

• best environmental statement,
• best stakeholder engagement action, and
• improvement of environmental performance.

The award for the best environmental statement was for Solidança Treball and the jury has agreed on a special recognition for Museu de la Vida Rural-Fundació Carulla. In the category of best stakeholder engagement action, the award was for the Majestic Hotel SPA, for their “Green Week 2023” action and a special mention from the jury was for Institut Català de la Salut (the Catalan Healthcare System), for its “Green ICS” campaign. Finally, the award for the best environmental performance was for Envases Plásticos del Ter (ENPLATER), a packaging manufacturing company for its “Ready to REcycle” project. B Braun (Rubí and Santa Oliva’s sites), has received a special mention of the jury for its actions aiming at the reduction of its carbon footprint.

There is a 4th category (Tandem award) open to non-EMAS organisations that promote collaboration between companies and environmental entities and NGOs. The winners in this category are Recaredo-Celler Can Credo and the Science Museum of Granollers for their 10 years of working together to monitor diurnal butterflies and bats.

This great EMAS party also welcomed the 19 organisations that have joined EMAS in the last 2 years in Catalunya and also recognised the work of those organisations that have already been with EMAS for a longer period of time, 18 organisations that have completed more than 10 years in EMAS between 2022 and 2023 and 13 with more than 20 years.

Traditionally, this ceremony always has a common thread of addressing an issue of environmental relevance. This year it was fashion and textile waste. The event featured an artistic performance highlighting the impact of textiles, with the artists dressed in costumes made from reused denim. A local textile waste upcycling project was also presented. Any company, even if it is not in the textile sector, can generate textile waste, for example the hotel and catering industry, the health sector, industrial laundries, but also anyone who has uniforms; so, there is room for improvement in this area of work!

Currently in Europe there are only 36 organisations in the textile sector that have obtained EMAS, 12 in Spain, 11 in Italy, 8 in Germany and then there are 5 Member States with one organisation (Austria, Belgium, Greece, Lithuania and Sweden).