Awards.

A unique glass crushing machine created for the leisure and hospitality industry, developed by Ekko Waste Solutions has won the prestigious National Recycling Award.

The Ekko Glass Crushing Machine has won Innovation of the Year at the prestigious 2015 MRW National Recycling Awards in London.

The glass crusher, designed to break empty glass bottles into small, safe and easily recyclable glass 'super' cullet, allows pubs, bars and restaurants to crush and store used bottles on site. Reducing their volume of waste by up to 80%, it cuts the number of weekly refuse collections, significantly lowers transport costs and dramatically reduces CO2 emissions.

The Glass Crusher is capable of recycling almost 94% of each bottle crushed and reducing the volume of five wheelie bin of glass into one bin. The unit's compact size makes it ideal for use and storage inside premises, eliminating the late night noise nuisance of staff tipping empties into outdoor storage.

Well established as 'the ultimate industry accolade', The National Recycling Awards recognise and highlight the excellence and innovation present throughout the recycling and resource management sector. The awards ceremony, which took place last night at the London Hilton in Park Lane, attracted more than 700 industry executives.

Zero Waste Scotland provided support to help commercialise the Ekko Glass Crusher through its Recycling Innovation Fund. Bert Ward from Zero Waste Scotland said: "We're delighted to see the Ekko Glass Crusher recognised at the MRW National Recycling Awards. This innovative product allows glass to be easily recycled by the hospitality industry, with over 93 percent of glass collected suitable for closed loop recycling into the re-melt market."

"It will also help hospitality businesses to overcome limited space barriers and ensure that they are compliant with Waste (Scotland) Regulations requiring key materials to be separated for recycling."

Brian Williamson, Ekko's Managing Director, said: "For the Ekko Glass Crusher to win the 2015 National Recycling Awards 'Innovation of the Year' is a fantastic achievement and to stand alongside finalists like John Lewis Partnership, The NHS, British Gypsum and the NEC, all of whom are far larger than us, is something of which we are immensely proud."