MBE for South Shropshire Furniture Scheme chief

And, an OBE went to Alison Quant, director of economic development for Hampshire county council who has responsibility for waste, and to former Green Alliance director Stephen Hale who was an adviser to former recycling minister Michael Meacher.

As chief executive of the furniture scheme since 2000 having first become involved in 1994, Ms Jarvis pointed to the growth and expansion of its activities.

She said: “The scheme has grown for reuse to a social enterprise today with 25 staff. Besides having four stops and selling items for reuse, we are quite a big training organisation. Furniture is a catalyst for quite a lot of other things – we are providing training in practical activities such as carpentry, personal development and customer service.”

The scheme is also involving more young people, Ms Jarvis explained. “We employ a high number of young people and we are also now getting more young volunteers.”

And, the South Shropshire scheme is also being used as an example of best practice and inspiration for other schemes. It has attracted interest from the Ministry of Justice with the doors opened to senior officials to show how the third sector can be used to help prisons and other institutions become more sustainable.

OBE

Hampshire's Alison Quant received the OBE as president of ADEPT, the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy Planning and Transport (previously known as the County Surveyors Society). The organisation has a waste role although much of its work relates to transport and planning.

Commenting on the award, Ms Quant, who is to retire in March 2011, said: “To be awarded an OBE is a genuine honour. It came as a complete surprise to me but it is a great pleasure to know that the service I have given in local government, particularly in the fields of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, has been recognised at the highest level. I have relished the challenges faced during my career to date and look forward to continuing to make a difference and using my skills and experience purposefully in new ways.”

An OBE also went to Stephen Hale, who recently left as director of the Green Alliance to take up the post of deputy advocacy and campaigns director at Oxfam International in Geneva.