BURY Market has won a Green Apple environment award in a campaign to find the greenest companies, councils and communities.

More than 500 nominations were received for the awards, and market bosses will be presented with their trophy and certificate at Westminster Palace on 12 November.

Their work will also be published in The Green Book, a leading international work of reference on environmental best practice, so that others around the world can follow their example and learn from their achievement.

The market could also progress to represent England in the Green World Awards 2019 and have 100 trees planted in its name as part of the United Nations Billion Trees Initiative.

The awards are supported by the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution for Wastes Management and other independent bodies.

Markets manager Andrew Heyes said: “In recent years we have implemented a wide number of schemes to improve our environmental performance and reduce expenditure. We will continue with this work, for which we are delighted has been recognised at national level.”

Among the ‘green’ measures taken were:

• Waste: The market sells a proportion of its waste for recycling and sends the rest to a facility which turns the waste into fuel.

• Power: The market has now installed four units which reduce the voltage of incoming electricity, thus saving money and reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

• Lighting: Replacing old lights with LEDs, which lower energy use, save running costs, last longer and reduce the environmental impact of disposing of fluorescent tubes.

• Meters: Automatic meter reading apparatus for gas and electricity allows better analysis of cost and consumption.

• Buildings: The market uses Bury Council’s monitoring system to control heating, ventilation and air conditioning at 25 sites across the borough to ensure efficiency.

• Radcliffe Market Hall: When it was refurbished, the market hall’s heating, lighting and insulation were all improved and solar panels installed. This reduced energy consumption and saved money. The hall’s new operator has agreed to measures to boost recycling and use suppliers who reduce bulky packaging.