Thursday will see Aston Manor Cider attending the West Midland’s Business Masters where the independent cider maker is nominated in the Innovation category.

Recognised for the great strides made in reducing water consumption at its Stourport-on-Severn processing facility, Aston Manor is shortlisted alongside other prominent business in the region.

The nomination marks a return to the awards, where the family-run business has achieved success in previous years, winning Best Manufacturer (Large) in 2015.

With up to 250 tonnes of apples passing through the facility each day during the harvest period, a significant energy input is required to cool the process of concentrating the fresh juice pressed from the apples.

To cool this process, an environmentally-friendly system was developed using the riverside location itself. In what is a first, the innovative technology diverts river water flowing past the site to condense vapours from the concentration process.

No water is lost before it is returned to the River Severn and is only fractionally warmer than when it was taken – hence there is no impact on the local wildlife or environment.

Introduced in time for the 2016 harvest, the water recycling initiative has now been expanded to include the cleaning and movement of apples through the mill.

The new approach has reduced fresh water consumption by 33%. Over 1 million litres of condensate produced during the harvest will be reused for apple movements around the site – a much more efficient use of water.

The West Midland’s Business Masters Awards, run by thebusinessdesk.com, celebrates excellence in all aspects of business life as well as enterprise and entrepreneurship.

The awards ceremony will take place at Edgbaston Stadium on Thursday, 8th June.