Harrison Spinks and Spinks are delighted to have picked up their third Queen’s Award for Enterprise in less than a year, bringing the total number won to five. After winning awards for Innovation and International Trade in 2018, we are thrilled to announce that we have now been awarded the prestigious award for Sustainable Development in 2019, just one of six companies to have received the award in this category.
The business has been granted the award in recognition of a number of ecologically friendly innovations which have made our products, as well as the process by which they are created, more sustainable. This includes reusing waste from the production process, replacing synthetic materials with natural, recyclable products and reducing CO2. We are constantly striving to be as vertically integrated and sustainable as possible, and are delighted that our efforts have been recognised for the second time, following the 2013 win for the same award.
Simon Spinks, Managing Director of Harrison Spinks, said: “We’re delighted to be granted another Queen’s Award for Enterprise and are honoured that the efforts we’ve made to make our business more sustainable have been recognised.
“We take our responsibility to act sustainably very seriously and we’ve been proud to challenge the market to make beds and mattresses in a different way, avoiding the need to use chemical products like foams that are difficult to recycle.
“We’ve worked hard to diversify our business to become one of the most vertically integrated furniture makers in the UK and this has helped us look at the way we run our business and reduce reliance on non-recyclable materials, waste, energy consumption and CO2.”
Since our 2013 award win, we have continued to drive our sustainable innovation in a number of key areas.
We partnered with British Steel to develop a new grade of steel rod which allows a finer gauge wire than traditional wire drawing methods. This produces lighter spring pads and results in a weight saving of 54% of steel per mattress compared with those with standard components. This reduces transport costs and uses less raw material. The business has also opened a wire-drawing line at British Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe which means that steel waste from the wire drawing process can be immediately recycled on-site, creating closed loop production.
The company has also made various innovations to the way mattresses and their components are made to create more sustainable products that are easier to recycle. This includes development of a machine that makes pocket springs in a way that removes the need for glue. The next big challenge on the horizon is creating a completely recyclable mattress that will reduce the amount of product going to landfill at the end of its life.
- 2019 – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development
- 2018 – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation
- 2018 – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade
- 2013 – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development
- 2013 – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation
