The Hub’s Green Growth service has helped businesses make decisions on their energy, material and water use to maximise resource efficiency and productivity.

The cost savings have seen more than 25m tonnes of production materials cut as well as a reduction in business water usage by nearly 5 million cubic metres.

The Hub also helped businesses make day-to-day energy savings, with companies cutting around 552 million KWh of energy. Businesses also realised waste savings, diverting 372,000 tonnes from landfill.

The total savings through efficiency and sustainability measures saved the companies around 384,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In a further boost for the prospects of Greater Manchester and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’, Business Growth Hub manufacturing and low-carbon manager Samantha Nicholson says there are more productivity savings to be made.

“These figures are proof that there is significant progress being made in Greater Manchester to boost business competitiveness and profitability by improving resource management,” said Nicholson. “But with Government estimating that there are £55 billion in savings waiting to be unearthed, we’ve barely touched the surface of what we can achieve.”

Greener Manchester

The Green Growth service has worked with Greater Manchester SMEs to improve their efficiency, using hands-on support to introduce savings and help companies grow.

Business Growth Hub Richard Jeffery said: “The Green Growth service is a core component of the Business Growth Hub’s support package because improving efficiency is critical to the success of any business.”

He said: “There are many more businesses out there sitting on top of huge savings just waiting to be unlocked with the right support.”

Partnerships with the Green Growth service have included working with school uniform supplier David Luke, which realised savings of £24,000 by introducing energy efficiency measures and reducing water use by 38,000 litres.

Building products developer QPSL also saw more than £30,000 worth of savings by improving its air compression system and increasing its use of recycled materials.

Greater Manchester councillor Sue Derbyshire said: “The business community has an absolutely critical role to play in helping us realise our vision for Greater Manchester, both in creating new jobs for the area and in contributing to our carbon emissions reduction targets.”

Matt Field

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