Scotland’s most environmentally-friendly businesses were named at a prestigious awards ceremony in Glasgow on 5th December and Scotland's tourism businesses did very well.

Three companies beat off stiff competition from companies across Scotland to be crowned National Winners at the Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Awards.

• Large company (more than 250 employees) category – Total E&P UK Ltd: an oil and gas company based in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire
• Medium company category (50-250 employees) – Emtelle UK Ltd: provider of ducted network and blown fibre solutions based in Hawick, in the Borders
• Small company category (fewer than 50 staff) – Cream O’Galloway Dairy: a family-run, luxury ice-cream manufacturer from Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway.

VIBES chair Gillian Bruce commented: “All of the VIBES finalists have showed fantastic commitment to reducing their environmental impact and involving staff and the wider community in their initiatives. The VIBES judges were impressed by the winners’ outstanding achievements – both in terms of their business savings and their environmental improvements.”

Companies being honoured by VIBES come from all over Scotland ranging from an Edinburgh-based leading provider of wind turbine services to a diverse arable farm in St Andrews.

Winner in the small company category, Cream O’Galloway Dairy, not only won the accolade for its environmentally friendly manufacturing but was also recognised for its organic farm and contribution to the local economy and community made through its visitor centre.

Wilma Finlay, managing director of Cream O’ Galloway Dairy said: “The environment is fundamental to everything we do. Minimising environmental impact underpins our strategy. We believe organic farming is the future for sustainable food production; ice cream production is powered by electricity from our community wind turbine; and activities at our visitor centre explain our efforts to make a difference.”

Now in its eighth year, VIBES recognises and rewards the efforts of Scottish businesses to become more efficient and competitive through improving environmental performance and benefiting a company’s bottom-line.

By winning a VIBES award, finalists are eligible to enter the European Environmental Awards in 2008 which attract around 200 entries per year from the cream of Europe’s most environmentally positive businesses.

VIBES is the only award scheme in Scotland that feeds into these prestigious European awards.

There are three categories of awards and the finalists within each award are shown below.

The VIBES large company category finalists are:

• Robert Wiseman Dairies (East Kilbride) 
• BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions (Glasgow) 
• Apex International hotel (Edinburgh) 
• Radisson SAS hotel (Edinburgh)

The medium company finalists are:

• Gas Call Services Ltd (Glasgow)
• Mackie’s of Scotland (Aberdeenshire)

The small company finalists are:

• Morton of Pitmilly (St Andrews)
• Rabbie’s Trail Burners Ltd (Edinburgh)
• Scottish Seabird Centre (North Berwick)
• Press Mains Farm (Coldingham)

Further information: www.vibes.org.uk