A Forres-based company that helps organisations to become more sustainable has been praised by a Moray MSP for its “cutting edge” ideas.
Richard Lochhead paid a visit to Aurora Sustainability to find out about the research they have undertaken in the field of the circular economy.
This is a regenerative system in which resources are kept for as long as possible in order to extract the maximum value from them.
Aurora Sustainability is based at Horizons Scotland and the firm also carries out research into innovative and new clean technologies.
Mr Lochhead was impressed about how much it was doing to create a cleaner future.
He said: “Aurora Sustainability is just the kind of cutting edge business that Moray needs, given that developing innovative and new clean technologies and creating a low carbon society is what the future is all about.
“The company provides valuable consultancy services and is undertaking research and development in the field of circular economy and sustainability and helping us to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
“My visit to their office at Horizon Enterprise Park in Forres, also provided an insight into their fascinating project Green Grow, where mushrooms are grown using unutilised bio resources like spent grains and waste heat.
“These can not only be used for food but also potentially provide the means by which to develop new compostable packaging products to replace harmful polystyrene boxes for instance. This is truly the circular economy at work.”
The organisation’s chief executive Iain Findlay explained what kind of research his company undertakes.
He said: “At Aurora, we are developing approaches that future-proof our business and society. Resource depletion, biodiversity loss and climate change are business realities that we all have to face.
“There are huge risks for those who ignore that, but even bigger opportunities for companies that have the vision to seek them out.
“We want Scotland to be at the front of the global effort to secure a decent future. Happily the support that is available in Scotland is second to none.
“We encourage others to join this global endeavour as soon as possible”