The Cornish candle manufacturer has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development, the first ever Queen’s Award for a candle manufacturer
St. Eval is one of 205 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise this year, and one of only 17 award winners in the Sustainable Development category. Announced today (Thursday 29 April), St. Eval has been recognised for its excellence in Sustainable Development.
St. Eval was founded in 1993 and manufactures high quality, handmade candles based on a farm in St Eval, near Newquay. From humble beginnings, as a small family operation, St. Eval now employs over 40 people with their candles and home fragrance products sold globally. Using centuries-old traditions, St. Eval keep the artisan craft skills of the candle-maker alive, while innovating the process to make the best use of renewable energy sources and recyclable packaging. Today, St. Eval is still very much a family owned business and has a network of nearly 2000 retail stockists across the UK and internationally, alongside their own e-commerce too.
CEO, Ian Greaves, believes a key element to St. Eval’s success has been the people at the heart of the business. From protecting wildlife on site and championing plastic-free packaging, to helping customers understand the benefits of sustainable production and much, much more.
‘We are thrilled that St. Eval has been honoured with a Queens Award for Sustainable Development,’ he said. ‘As we have grown over the years, we have always strived to put sustainability at the heart of all we do. I am immensely proud of the team here at St Eval in the way that the whole team have worked so hard at building a not only successful, but also an ethical and sustainable business which continues to go from strength to strength.
‘Being a manufacturer in rural Cornwall brings its own challenges, but we are very proud of our Cornish heritage and are delighted to bring this award back to Cornwall and demonstrate that a manufacturing company, whatever its location, can thrive and grow in a sustainable way. As a company, we are determined to set the standard for actions to preserve and nurture the natural world around us.’
The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development will be conferred upon the team at St. Eval Candle Company’s factory at a ceremony presided over by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.
St. Eval proudly produce their own sustainable energy via wind, solar and biomass; helping to reduce their carbon footprint and impact on the environment. In 2011, the UK’s quietest Wind Turbine was erected on their farm which, alongside solar panels and a biomass boiler, helps to produce enough energy to power the entire factory. The innovative triple energy solution integrates wind, solar and biomass energy power to heat buildings and the water used on-site, in addition to a ‘water-to-air space heater’ heats the air in the warehouse. The latter reduces energy consumption as well as feeding surplus electricity back into the local grid to serve the local community.
To further support their sustainability ethos, as a company St. Eval pledged to be plastic-free by 2022 and are well ahead of this target, having recently introduced new 100% recyclable packaging for their Reed Diffuser Collection and Scented Tealight Collection.
St. Eval continue to create new and exciting candles and fragrances, inspired by nature and following their core values; to protect, nurture and respect each other and the earth. The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development recognises and celebrates St. Eval’s outstanding commitment and achievement in sustainability. This award further enables St. Eval to set the standard for other UK candle manufacturers and pioneer greater leadership in sustainable British manufacturing.
