St Austell Brewery has won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, based on the company’s success in terms of sustainable development across its operations.

St Austell will now hold the accreditation for the next five years.

Chief executive James Staughton said: ‘St Austell Brewery is a company made up of many different functions including brewing, logistics and pubs – all of them award-winners in their own right - but the Queen’s Award recognises the efforts of everyone at all levels across the business and that makes the award unique and very special.

‘Winning the Queen’s Award is an enormous honour for all of us as it is the highest accolade that any business in the UK can aspire to but the exacting criteria of the awards process, especially in the field of sustainable development, also acted as an excellent way for us to review our aims and behaviours to confirm that our actions and decisions were aligned and that we really are doing as much as we possibly can to make our operations as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.’

The Brewery helped set up the Cornish Barley Growers’ Initiative to reintroduce barley as a staple crop into the county and last year pledged its commitment to healthy seas and sustainable fisheries by joining Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Cornwall Good Seafood Guide.

The company, which owns an estate of 178 pubs and hotels across the South West, has significantly reduced its water consumption through investments in research and development.

Energy-saving measures and use of renewables enabled St Austell Brewery’s Central Distribution Centre to go grid-free for half of 2016. 98 percent of the company’s waste is now diverted from landfill, and it uses local, ethical suppliers.

The Brewery provides career opportunities through schools, colleges and apprenticeship schemes and, having set up its own charitable trust in 2003, has helped raise more than £700,000 for local charities, organisations and individuals in need.