A printing business which recycles all its waste, including tea bags and lightbulbs, and sent its last rubbish consignment to landfill two years ago, was paid a royal visit yesterday.

The Duke of Kent dropped in at Seacourt, in the Horspath Road Industrial Estate in Cowley, to present the firm’s second Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the sustainability category.

The small printing company was given the same prize in 2007 and has gained nine different environmental awards since 2004.

Seacourt sent its last shipment of waste to landfill in October 2009. Since then, every waste product from the site has been recycled or re-used.

The Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Tim Stevenson, was on hand to introduce the Duke. He said: “It is known that winning a Queen’s Award is no mean achievement, you have to jump through some quite tricky hoops. It’s very much a sense of many are called but few are chosen.”

He added: “Seacourt is, I think, a perfect exemplar of the sort of companies for which the award was originally intended, and demonstrates the UK’s world-beating ability to lead.”

The carbon-neutral company began using waterless printing presses in the 1990s and has reduced its annual water usage from 120,000 litres to 420 litres. It prints a range of items from annual reports to business cards.

The Duke of Kent told assembled staff and customers: “I do not think anyone can underestimate the work involved over many years.

“It has taken a great deal of determination.”

The Duke later visited OpTek in Abingdon to present a Queen’s Award for international trade. Founder Dr Mike Osborne said: “It is a great honour for our efforts to be recognised with this prestigious award, which has been achieved thanks to the hard work and dedication of all our staff and partners.”

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk