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23 August 2010

Straw logs success

Island company Fuel Britannia Straw Logs has been named one of South West and Wales’ top young companies in the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, competing for the main prize and the special green category.

Now Fuel Brittania hopes to be selected to fly the flag for the region at the national finals, and convince the judges that it has the special X-factor to win the top prize of £30,000, and a further £10,000 for the green award.

Entrepreneurs, Caroline Knox, Thomas Smith and John Smith, started Fuel Britannia in April 2009, at their farm in Merstone.

Since then, word of the super-fuel, which is unique to the UK, has started to spread and Fuel Britannia’s ‘agrilogs’ are now available throughout the Isle of Wight and in a number of mainland outlets.

For the Smith family, it’s important to spread the message that straw is a superb ‘green’ alternative to fossil fuels. It even out-performs wood, which contains more moisture and therefore burns less efficiently than straw logs.

The potential for the business is huge and the Smiths have plans to make it even more eco-friendly by installing a straw burning biomass boiler to demonstrate its benefits and to install a wind turbine to improve the energy efficiency of the production process.

The HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, now in their 10th year, recognise the UK’s most promising young businesses less than four years old, with more than £50,000 worth of cash and prizes waiting for the winners.

Fuel Brittania is hoping to land a place at the top table on 18th October when more than 300 business leaders come together at London’s Dorchester Hotel to hear the names of the national winners.