A HAMPSHIRE woman has been honoured for her work in making a DIY giant more eco friendly.

Rachel Bradley, from Winchester, was awarded the Unsung Hero award at the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards last month, for her work as B&Q’s sustainability manager.

The 40-year-old mother of two was nominated for the award by two of her colleagues.

Rachel was praised for her part in developing the firm’s One Planet Home programme since its launch in 2006.

She counts among her achievements her part in helping B&Q reach a point where all its wood and paper products come from Forest Friendly sources.

During her time with B&Q, Rachel has helped to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by a third and 37 per cent of sales now come from products with sustainability credentials.

Her work has taken her to India to see coir manufacture and brass casting and to China to see the manufacture of a variety of products ranging from drills to lampshades and to look at working conditions.

George Padelopoulos, B&Q responsible sourcing manager said, “It’s time that Rachel’s tenacity, commitment, resilience and unstinting passion for doing the right thing is recognised. It is not often in the world of retail that a programme lasts a couple of years, let alone the 10 that One Planet Home has. Rachel needs to take a huge amount of credit and recognition for being the driving force behind it.”

Commenting on her win, Rachel said, “I was shocked and delighted to have been nominated I can’t think of nicer feedback from the team I have loved working with for many years now. I was even more surprised to have won – I want to thank everyone who helped make it happen from the amazing people I have worked with at B&Q and Bioregional on the One Planet Home project to everyone who voted and asked their friends to vote too.”

Before joining B&Q , Rachel worked in the paper industry for M-Real at their paper mills and recycling plant in Kent where she was their special projects and environment engineer.