THRIVING Bury Business Environment Association (BEA) has achieved a major milestone.

For in just three years, it has recruited 150 members from companies throughout the borough wishing to take advantages of BEA's range of environment-related services.

And it was a sparkling occasion for Ingrid Hitchon, managing director of Radcliffe-based Molygran and Co.

For she was presented with a bottle of champagne to mark the fact her Lodge Road company had become the BEA's 150th member.

And she is hopeful the organisation's experience and expertise will help Molygran solve its polystyrene scrap problem.

The business, which employs 13 people, is involved in manufacturing polystyrene packaging and insulation materials and has traded in Radcliffe since being launched in 1981. Ingrid said: "We do have something of a scrap problem as we cut from very large blocks. If we carry this through to its logical end, there could be a health and safety problem too.

"We want to combine the two and get help from Bury Business Environment Association who can assist us in maintaining a clean factory."

She added: "Our membership has already proved to be worthwhile as we've just had a survey done."

Bury BEA, a Groundwork initiative, has taken off leaps and bounds since establishing itself in Bury in 1998.

It assists companies throughout the borough to exploit the competitive advantages of good health, safety and environmental management, sometimes by way of grants, and to help them keep within the law.