Oxford printing company wins 4th Queen's Award for Sustainability

By Nicky Godding

4 May 2021

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An Oxford printing company is celebrating after winning its fourth Queen’s Award for Enterprise for sustainable development.

Cowley-based Seacourt is one of 205 organisations across the UK to be recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It is for the fourth time the business has been recognised for its excellence in sustainable development, having previously collected the honour in 2007, 2011 and 2016.

Seacourt – which began trading in 1946 – claims to be one of the world’s greenest and most sustainable printing companies. Having set out to transform its traditional operations in 1996, the firm is a model for companies looking to operate in the most environmentally conscious way possible.

Gareth Dinnage, MD of Seacourt said: “We are honoured to have once again received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for our outstanding achievements in sustainable development. Winning the highest UK official award for business for the fourth time is an acknowledgement of everything the team here does to make our company the gold standard when it comes to ethical and environmental excellence.

“We are immensely proud of all we have achieved – Seacourt is proof that companies can act responsibly and prosper. This award cements our ambition to continually strive to do more for society and the planet.”

Using a mix of the latest technology and reviewing its entire production and supply chain, Seacourt has revolutionised the normal printing process. Highlights include switching to revolutionary waterless printing; reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions by 98.5 per cent; sending no waste to landfill; using 100 per cent renewable energy; and is a carbon positive (+10%) business in its entirety. This unique proposition is offered to clients as Planet Positive Printing, which sees Seacourt supporting cookstove projects in Ghana and Bangladesh to assist developing countries with safe and eco-friendly cooking methods, diverting carbon from entering the atmosphere at source, enabling social mobility and enhancing public health.

The planet-positive business – which employs 25 people –is also the highest-scoring B Corp printing and media company in the world with a huge 124.3 points. B Corp is the world’s moniker for good businesses that balance purpose and profit, and only 80 points are required to be certified B Corp.

Now in their 55th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country. Winning businesses able to use the esteemed Queen’s Awards emblem on their branding for the next five years.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.