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Events
Sustainability
Sokito wins most important award ever
August 08, 2023
Drumroll please...
Most people have never heard of the UK Green Business Awards (GBA). Unlike the Oscars, it doesn’t attract followers from across the globe that fawn for weeks over the winners of each category, the outfits on the red carpet and the gossip from the afterparty. No, the GBAs didn’t take social media by storm, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have your attention.
We have… mixed opinions about sustainability awards. It’s a great way to recognise new schemes that small or big companies have started. But it can also create the illusion that things are going well on the climate-change front. When actually, we’re only at the one mile mark of the marathon.
However, with 3 out of 4 adults stating that they are worried about climate change, it’s good to let people know that there are businesses out there trying to make a difference.
Winner, winner, locally-sourced, corn-fed, free range, chicken dinner
Even though we’ve been shouting about our recycling scheme, we were still surprised to win the award for Recycling Project of the Year.
That’s because, if we’re being totally upfront with you all, the scheme is still in its infancy. We have everything set up: people are donating their boots, and the recycling plant in Italy is ready and waiting. But as it stands, we’ve only trialled the scheme with a few boots. We haven’t actually created anything new from those materials yet. Don’t get us wrong: we want to do more! We just need a minimum of 4,000 boots to send over to Italy, otherwise they won’t be able to make anything useful from the materials. So if you want to help us get to that milestone, you can donate a pair of your old boots here.
But hey, we’re still proud to have won. Especially considering this scheme
is the first of its kind, and the fact that there were some very
well-established
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Tinker, tailor, Sokito, spy
The great thing about the GBAs is that you get the chance to see what everyone else is doing in the space. It gives us an opportunity to connect with other passionate, sustainably-focused brands . And drink a lot. But if you’re sitting there thinking it was an easy win for us, you can be proved wrong with the full shortlist for the event.
From online toolkits to physical recycling points, the great part about the awards is that they took into account every kind of scheme imaginable. It wasn’t just the companies with the deepest pockets that won the awards: ingenious action was also applauded.
Some of the other awards included circular economies, green buildings, behavioural change, nature-based, and many many more. Another champion that caught our attention was Hubbub’s ‘Manchester is Green’ initiative (which won the Behaviour Change Campaign of the Year.) This interested us for obvious reasons:
football. The idea was to convince football fans in Manchester to start eating greener, whether that was from plant-based meals, better-sourced ingredients or meals that reduced waste. By showing how easy it could be to switch, 79% said they are now making better choices for the environment in other areas of their lives, which just goes to show that most people are willing to make those sustainable choices.
Another winner that caught our eye was the Graig Fatha Wind Farm, run by Ripple Energy, which was awarded the Renewable Energy Project of the Year. Now you may be thinking: ‘A wind farm, that’s a pretty obvious choice for a renewable energy project’, which is exactly why we did a little bit of digging. Turns out, this is the UK’s
first
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A round of applause for our hosts
It was an impressive night for sustainability. Just from the two awards we looked into, it’s clear that there are so many businesses out there thinking of innovative ways to not only implement greener solutions, but also educate people on how to change. Sponsored by companies who have the same goals, the event could go ahead knowing the money behind them isn’t coming from a damaging place.
You may be wondering: where are all the famous people?! Well, it wasn’t really that kind of event. You had Ed Miliband hosting (semi-famous) and few big names within the sustainability bubble. But honestly, this is still a very insular occasion. Most ‘ordinary’ people on the outside world have no idea what is going on in the world of climate change, sustainability and business. Which is what we want to change.
Post-match analysis
We’re still on the fence about whether this was just a big ‘pat on the back’ ceremony, whilst the big dogs out there continue to pollute our environment without losing a wink of sleep. But in this industry, you have to stay positive. Or be fuelled by a deep and unwavering hatred of fossil fuels. Either works.
It was great to see so many people in a room with the same goal. The most important goal there is, really. Because if we don’t save our planet, nothing else really matters. If that’s scary: well, good. We can’t turn away anymore. We have to make better choices, including who we’re voting into power, which brands we give your money to, and how we encourage the people around us to think about this problem head-on. It will have to be a flood of people, not a trickle, that finally forces oil and gas companies, corrupt governments and greedy corporations to change. We may be just a sustainable football boot brand, but hey, you have to start somewhere.
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August 08, 2023
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