BOLTON Market has been honoured in a prestigious competition after using an innovative machine to improve its green credentials.

The market won the 'innovative saver' award at the inaugural Love Energy Awards, which has been set up by energy price comparison website Love Energy Savings.

It received the award for the use of an innovative cardboard baler, which is the most environmentally friendly way of dealing with a large amount of cardboard.

The machine is used to remove all of the cardboard boxes thrown away by the market traders on a daily basis.

In a 12 month period, the market expects to save about £12,000 in waste costs due to the introduction of cardboard balers.

It beat off competition from Romford Shopping Hall, Click Hearing in Essex and Heatsavr Canary Islands to win the award.

Phil Foster, the chief executive officer of Love Energy Savings, said: “Bolton Market has reduced the carbon footprint for hundreds of traders and Bolton as a town with fantastic financial results.

"It just goes to show how much money you can save when you make simple energy-saving changes.”

The awards are aimed at highlighting the most energy-savvy businesses from across the UK, and to recognise them for their dedication to energy efficiency.

It also aims to ensure that businesses apply a proactive approach to reducing their carbon footprint, in a bid to help meet the government’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 80 per cent by the year 2050.

Mr Foster added: “The Love Energy Awards honour organisations who consistently go the extra mile to create a more energy-efficient business.

"We have been overwhelmed by the number of nominations that we have received for each of the four categories. It was a difficult decision to narrow it down to just four winners due to the high quality of the entrants.”

Other winners of awards included the University of Salford, which won the star of the future award, for conducting research to educate customers about how to save energy by building the Salford Energy House.

It is a Victorian house which was reconstructed and allows the university to test energy efficiency measures during various weather conditions with more reliable results.

For more information, visit http://loveenergysavings.com/business-energy