Financial director Jenny Carter, the original Fred Soar's granddaughter, said everyone in the business wanted to think they were balancing the bottom line against the needs of the community and environment.
She said the entire staff had to be persuaded to buy in to the environmental efforts and being a family firm, the idea of leaving something viable for future generations was familiar.
Soar said being able to claim environmental credentials had attracted new clients and helped the company win tenders during the past two years.
Using resources more effectively also reduced costs, said Carter, and eliminated a lot of waste. As a result, gross profit as a percentage of sales had improved by 2 per cent and costs of energy, water, waste and carbon emissions had dropped 40 per cent.
Carter estimated the carbon neutral programme had resulted in savings of $160,000 over two years, mainly through reductions in the cost of power, fuel, waste to landfill and water.
Northland honey producers Tahi Estate has also made a significant investment in sustainability and picked up the Sustainable Business Network's Trailblazer Award for a small to medium business.
Manager John Craig said the focus on sustainability initially was costly but attracted an audience the company would not have been able to tap in to any other way.
The 5-year-old company claimed carbon neutral status because it was able to offset the carbon used in producing and exporting its honey. Tahi Estate expected to become financially viable next year. "People can go as far as they want [with sustainability]. We've chosen to go further than most."
