Greenvale AP’s revolutionary eco root vegetable washing system Cascade has been put forward for the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) 2012.

The leading UK potato supplier is on target to reduce its water usage by 100 million litres a year after rolling out Cascade to its Floods Ferry site in Cambridgeshire at a cost £1.7 million.

Together with the first Cascade system installed at Tern Hill in Shropshire in 2009, Greenvale is aiming to slash its water usage by 80 per cent and cut the energy costs of chilling the water by 50 per cent.

The system also processes the sand and soil which is siphoned out of the water to be reused and sold on, so that almost everything is recycled.

On February 16 the RSA Environment Awards Forum announced the 12 UK Entrants chosen to be entered into the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE).

The EBAE awards recognise outstanding, new or innovative contributions to sustainable development and the UK Entrants will compete for a prize against winners from 23 other countries on the European stage.

UK Entrants for Europe are selected from the winners of RSA Accredited Award Schemes from the past two years.

RSA Accreditation is only achieved by a select number of environmental and sustainable award schemes who demonstrate high quality and validity.

This means that those chosen for Europe are ‘the best of the best’; the most far-sighted, responsible and innovative companies from across the country.