3R Group, New Zealand’s leading supplier of product stewardship services, won the Hawke’s Bay Today Supreme Business of the Year Award and the Orb Communications Small Business Award at the Westpac Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards on Thursday 6 November.

3R Group finds ways to reduce and recover resources that are both practical and sustainable.  They are responsible for designing and managing two model product stewardship programmes in New Zealand, the Resene Paintwise take-back programme and the Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme.

Founders and directors, Bruce Emerson and Graeme Norton accepted the top award, and acknowledged the effort of all of their staff.

Mr Emerson told the 600-plus crowd "an ounce of action was worth a tonne of theory", and that "green is the new gold with the range of opportunities in this area endless”.  He also said, “People in business who succeed have swallowed their fear and created something special, which is what 3R and their customers have done”. Mr Emerson then went on to say “the days of being teased about ‘wearing socks with your Roman sandals’ were over.  Sustainability and global warming were the new buzzwords of today!”

Mr Norton said there had been a lot of talk about the "dirty R word, recession".   "But we're moving on to the next letter in the alphabet - S. We're talking about success and satisfaction." Learn more about 3R and product stewardship by going to www.3R.co.nz and www.productstewardship.org.nz.

Pak ‘N’ Save Hastings, owned by David and Pam Smith, won the Workfit Healthy Workplace Award, and Fastway Couriers (NZ) took away the Pan Pac Forest Products Large Business Award.

Other clients of BvonD were finalists in the awards and their businesses were acknowledged as having been successful in their respective industries – Rockmybaby, a nanny and babysitting service owned and run by Ursula and Pete Maidens, were finalists for the Xplore.net Online Innovation Award.  Check out their website, www.rockmybaby.co.nz, where you can register as a family requiring a babysitter or nanny or a babysitter or nanny looking for work.

Wayne and Deidre Morgan, owners of Pyroclassic Fires (www.fires.co.nz) were finalists in the Attn! marketing PR Excellence in Sustainable Business Award for the Pyroclassic woodburner which they manufacture and sell.  It is the cleanest burning, lowest emission woodburner in New Zealand, with very high efficiency.

Simon Wilton, BvonD partner, who attended the Awards dinner said, “It was exciting to be at the awards and share in our client’s successes.  We feel proud to be associated with these successful Hawke’s Bay businesses.”

Well done to everyone from all of us @ BvonD!