For the launch of their natural fuel logs from a waste product in a sustainable bag, Hotmax scooped the Farm Business Innovation Sustainability Award at the Farm Business Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show 2021 on Thursday 11th November.
The Farm Business Innovation Show Awards celebrate those who are putting sustainability at the forefront of their company, product or service. With this being an ever-growing concern, this award recognises those who have sustainability at the core of their business.
The judges picked Hotmax as their winner as they were impressed after hearing how this family owned and operated company transforms an entirely waste product, dust, to produce high heat fuel logs which are then packed in an eco-friendly bag. British and fully traceable, the dust is generated during the production of the company’s horse bedding products, Bedmax and Littlemax.
It is not, however, just the logs with green credentials, the bag they come in is fully compostable. A significant amount of research and development went into designing packaging that did not compromise design or function over the environment.
These strong bags hold the logs securely and once empty can easily be recycled or returned to the earth on a compost heap. Eco-friendly water-based inks are also used on the packaging to reduce harmful chemicals reaching the environment.
On receiving this award Managing Director Tim Smalley said: “It’s great to be recognised for the work we are doing towards sustainability. We source all of the timber used in our shavings from sustainable UK forestry, and then use all the waste dust that we extract from these products to make Hotmax heat logs.”
This is, however, not the first assurance that these fuel briquettes have received. They gained ‘Woodsure Ready to Burn’ accreditation in 2019, demonstrating competence and compliance in helping to reduce environmental impact in contrast to unseasoned wood logs. Logs labelled as ‘Woodsure Ready to Burn’, a scheme supported by DEFRA, are certified as containing no more than 20% moisture, which means less smoke, less carbon monoxide and, therefore, less pollution.
Tim concludes: “At Bedmax we are continually striving to minimise our impact on the environment and to recycle as much of our waste as we can. Hotmax is specifically an eco-friendly product, and for this growing market environmental credentials don’t just stop at the product itself.
“We wanted to be holistic and to have better packaging when it came to protecting the environment, which is very important to us as a company. A lot of work went into developing the fully biodegradable packaging to align with our beliefs and make as little impact on the environment as possible; I am delighted that we have achieved this.”
