A small cash prize and some glory awaits the members who nab a CRNS award. We talk to some previous winners about what the award meant to them and their work.

“There are so many things to do at the moment, it’s a crazy time,” says Robert Sinclair, who runs Hebrides Alpha Trading on the Isle of Lewis. His battle with a packed schedule will find an echo in busy social enterprises across Scotland. Trialling a new cardboard recycling service for local businesses is just one of many new projects that Hebrides Alpha Trading is currently juggling.

There are only two full-time staff in the organisation - Robert and one other colleague. Nevertheless, amid the frantic activity, he’s determined to devote a few minutes to one particular task: submitting his organisation’s entry for the CRNS 6th annual awards.

Last year, on his first visit to the More Than Recycling conference, Robert was “delighted” to take away the Member of the Year trophy. As well as being a vote of confidence from his peers (CRNS members all have the opportunity to vote), the award brought further benefits including forging new contacts.

“After the awards presentation, I was approached by a man from a company who offered to buy material for recycling,” Robert says. “If our cardboard trial is successful and we start baling it, we’ll be entering into a partnership with him.”

For Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative, which triumphed in last year’s Innovation category, the award has a highly practical use.

“We use it in our marketing and publicity,” says project manager, George Murray. “I’m now drawing up funding applications for the next year, and I won’t be slow to refer to the award in those.” Another past Innovation winner was RePaint Scotland, whose vision of recycling used paint products captured the imagination of voters. Two years on, the Glasgow-based group has active interest from major DIY retailers and is hoping for commercial contracts that would secure its long-term future.

“We were over the moon with the award,” recalls RePaint’s Maureen Menzies. “It confirmed to us that the idea we’d had was a good one. And while the cash award isn’t a big one, it’s still a thousand quid you wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

That’s a sentiment endorsed by ReJIG, based on Islay and Jura. In 2007, the group took the Innovation title for its pioneering work to create biofuels from waste cooking oil used by local hotels. Today ReJIG no longer produces biofuels – the experiment convinced the group that it lacked the resources to make it viable – but the award helped it spread the word about the potential of this activity.

“We still use biodiesel, but we now get it from a recycling outfit in Campbeltown, which benefits from much larger-scale production,” says ReJIG’s Dave Protherough. “However, we had a lot of interest from other groups as a result of winning the award. In fact, we still have people asking to visit so they can find out more about the pros and cons of the project. “The money side of the award wasn’t that important for us. From my point of view, it was confirmation that we were doing something that fitted with the reuse ethos, rather than just spending funds because they happened to be there.

“It was a pat on the back and made us feel we were doing something right.”

And that’s what the CRNS awards are all about – recognising the hard work and innovative ideas alive in the sector and promoting it all to the wider world.

Here’s a full list of past winners

More Than Recycling (MTR) 2010

Member of the year award – Hebrides Alpha Trading

Innovation Award – Lorn & Oban Reuse Initiative

Local Authority Partnership Award – Argyll & Bute

MTR 2009

Member of the Year – GREAN

Innovation Award – RePaint Scotland

Local Authority Partnership Award – Falkirk Council

MTR 2008

Member of the year – Moray Recycling Action Group

Innovation Award – Shetland Amenity Trust’s Enviroglass

Local Authority Partnership Award – Highland council

MTR 2007

Member of year – (joint winners) Fyne Futures Bute Recycling Centre / Wood Recyclability

Innovation Award – ReJIG

Local Authority Partnership Award – Argyll & Bute

MTR 2006

Member of the Year – FEAT Enterprises (now SpringBack)

Innovation Award – Spruce Carpets