Promoting environmental management in very small businesses through “Green Angels” in a local collaborative partnership: a case study from Brighton, England

This paper describes the results of the East Brighton Employment and Environment Centre (EBEEC), a 15 month URBAN project, promoting environmental management to very small businesses in east Brighton, England. Some 31 volunteers, termed `Green Angels`, were trained in waste minimisation at the University of Brighton, and provided practical support to local firms through site reviews and research. The EBEEC project provided information and support to some 600 SMEs in east Brighton, via newsletters, email, telephone helpline, seminars and other projects. The Project was managed by a collaborative partnership formed from regional as well as local organisations. The involvement of a University to train potential `Green Angels`, so as to support SMEs in an area designated for economic regeneration, was an innovative and successful method of providing environmental management support to small firms. To stimulate the uptake of environmental management, case study material based on Best Practice was produced and disseminated to local companies via an Internet Site. A CD-Rom containing the Green Angel training package has been produced to help other projects like this. The outcomes from this Project will inform the regional and potentially the national approach to providing environmental business support and advice via local collaborative partnerships containing Universities.