Rapid prototyping firm delivers environmental awards

The environmental Awards highlight the individuals and companies that have gone the extra green mile in the UK. At an award ceremony at London's Kensington Roof Gardens in June, winners of 10 ethical categories were presented with personalised 'Habbit' awards, based upon their own carbon footprint. The 'Habbits' were the brainchild of Rob Holdway of Giraffe Innovation Ltd, Brighton. One of the UK's leading eco experts, he created the concept of humanoid forms that are distorted relative to the environmental impact of common activities. Each body part is assigned to an impact, for example the feet relate to travel; the hands to home energy; the mouth to water usage; the stomach to food; the buttocks to packaging waste; and the head to electrical goods. The relative body part is 'grown' where an individual's impact on the environment is higher. Winners were announced in May and their survey results converted into individual 3D CAD data files by Furnace Design, Hove. These were then transmitted to 3T who created the statuette models in a white nylon material using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology. Stuart Offer, sales manager at 3T, said: "We were delighted to work with Rob on this project, as we are always looking for new and innovative ways in which our technology can be used effectively. As a company we employ various recycling programmes, including our nylon materials. The nature of the SLS process means that when each build chamber comes out of the machine, it contains a certain amount of 'unsintered' powder, ie. loose powder supporting the parts that have been built (or 'sintered') by the laser. This powder could be considered simply as 'waste', however, most users implement a recycling programme to re-use a proportion of the powder. With our dedicated Research & Development team, we have refined the process to make it more efficient, thereby making the whole manufacturing process more environmentally friendly and economic, while reducing material disposal." Pictured: Left: Politician of the year - Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green party; Right, Campaigner of the year, Peter Tatchell, with The Observer's Lucy Siegle