Innovation award for ‘inspiring’ company

The annual Innovator Award from Environmental Choice New Zealand has been won by fitness centre company Les Mills.

To win the award, a company must score well across a range of indicators including environmental benefit, driving significant change in the organisation and imaginative marketing. The Christchurch city gym was the first in the country to meet a new standard, developed last year by the government-owned ecolabel, for sustainability and ‘green’ gym operations.

Environmental Choice general manager Robin Taylor says Les Mills has used its style of enthusiastic customer engagement to promote the benefits of a healthy environment to members.

“Health and environment are closely linked, and Les Mills has seized the opportunity to educate its members that making the right environmental choice is good for their people and our planet. They have developed an inspiring philosophy, which is to improve the lives of New Zealanders,” said Taylor.

Les Mills CEO Reece Zondag received the award and says the company has a goal “of being New Zealand’s best-known restorative business.” In lessening its impact on the environment, the company is achieving measured reductions in waste, energy use and travel.

In the gym itself, innovations include flooring made from recycled car tyres, motion sensors for lighting and water use, and eventually, hopes Zondag, recapturing and using some of the energy released by members while exercising. That technology is still developing, he says.

The innovation award coincides with the announcement by the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust that three more Les Mills gyms have qualified to wear the Environmental Choice badge. They are based in Hutt City and Auckland’s New Lynn and Britomart.

A ‘highly commended’ award was also made to Croxley Recycling, which has developed a comprehensive scheme for the retrieval and recycling of imaging consumables.

Taylor says 2013 will be a year of continuing advancement for Environmental Choice as the label develops more standards for service delivery, going beyond its traditional role of assessing and licensing products.

“We have grown at an annual average of 43% in the last decade, and the label now surveys as a positive influence in three out of five purchasing decisions. We are also trusted by New Zealanders who recognise the label as a genuine sign of environmentally better products and services,” said Taylor.