By: Jonathan Bennett

Australian company CHEP Australia was recently announced as a finalist for a Green Global Award for its innovative packaging design. The company is up for an award in the Environmental Innovation category for its beverage tray equipment pool, which is made for the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

The green awards, run by the New South Wales (NSW) government, have been around for 13 years and are meant to encourage businesses to come up with innovative ways to make their offices run more efficiently.

CHEP's beverage trays were nominated as they reportedly "prevent 1,250 tons of one-way cardboard packaging from being wasted each year by beverage supply chains."

"CHEP led a collaborative project to 'imagine a more innovative beverage supply chain' that included reduced environmental impacts," said Frank Vittoria, CHEP's business development manager. "The result was the pool of reusable multi-purpose beverage trays, which will hold either 1.25-litre carbonated soft drink bottles or 2-liter juice bottles."

The NSW website reports there are 48 companies in the running for Green Global Awards this year. Categories include Energy, Water and Waste Excellence Awards, Excellence in Sustainability, Excellence in Leadership and Innovation and 10 Year Sustainability Achievement Award.

Business owners around the world continue to try and make improvements to how their companies run in order to reduce their carbon footprints. Offering employees green awards for their efforts may help get more workers on board with certain initiatives.