A student placement at James Donaldson Timber Ltd (JDT) has won first prize at an award ceremony in Edinburgh.

Charlotte Owen has been working with JDT for the past two months through the Bright Green Placement scheme, looking into the energy usage and carbon emissions of the business. The placement is run across Scotland by The Business Partnership Ltd and culminates in an award ceremony to honour the most enterprising student.

During her placement, Ms Owen identified a 20% potential saving on JDT’s electricity bills, a 4.5-tonne reduction in paper waste, and a possible 210-tonne reduction in its carbon emissions.

JDT’s integrated systems manager, Mark Murphy, will take over the report and says the company will follow its recommendations where possible.