The spirit of sustainability is absolutely thriving in Dorking! A fantastic array of our local BID businesses and community groups have been named finalists in the prestigious Sustainable Mole Valley Awards 2025. This collective achievement highlights our town’s deep commitment to green practices, circular economies, and a future-focused high street.
The nominations celebrate innovative projects that prove commercial success and environmental responsibility can—and should—go hand-in-hand. We are incredibly proud to celebrate the following Dorking finalists:
Nature & Biodiversity Award Finalists
This category honours local projects and organisations who are planting trees, restoring habitats, and helping wildlife flourish.
- Downs Solicitors Heritage Garden: Celebrated for their beautifully restored garden, which is generously opened to the public for events, blending history, horticulture, and hospitality to create a tranquil sanctuary in the town centre.
- Hello Dorking: Nominated for our work to make the town bloom through litter picks, planter renovations, and sustainable planting schemes that enhance neglected spaces and encourage biodiversity in the town centre.
Food & Drink Award Finalists
This category celebrates organisations that are growing, sourcing, and sharing food in ways that are kind to the planet and generous to the community.
- Dorking Community Orchard: Celebrated for a brilliant effort to reduce waste by inviting residents to bring surplus apples from their gardens to be pressed into fresh, unpasteurised apple juice, turning excess into something delicious and shared.
- Mid Surrey Community Fridge: A vital lifeline for surplus food, it offers donations from supermarkets to anyone who needs it, helping to prevent good food from going to landfill while strengthening community support.
- Holmestores: Prioritises sustainability by using reclaimed wood and energy-efficient lighting, sourcing sustainable, locally-sourced wood for their pizza oven fuel, and eliminating single-use plastics.
- Coughlans Bakery: Operates with an impressive 99% zero waste goal, recycling all waste to be converted into biofuel and electricity. They use fully recyclable and biodegradable packaging and collaborate daily with local homeless charities to ensure no food is wasted.
Waste & Recycling Award Finalists
This category celebrates organisations that are champions of reuse and repair, keeping valuable materials out of landfill.
- Circular Dorking – Library of Things: Recognised for making sustainable living easy by allowing the community to borrow tools and equipment for short-term needs, reducing the need to buy new items.
- Repair Café: A vital community initiative that provides a welcoming space for residents to learn to fix broken items like toasters and bikes, building a culture of repair and resourcefulness.
- Dorking Men’s Shed: Celebrated for their craftsmanship and conservation, they transform reclaimed wood and salvaged furniture into beautiful, functional pieces, promoting reuse, skill, and community spirit.
Shopping Award Finalists
These businesses are redefining retail by prioritising ethics, circularity, and social value in their products and services.
- Putty Cakes: A shining example of social value, the bakery was recognised for creating a community hub through “Hanging Coffees” (paying forward for those in need), hosting local groups, and running a free weekly ‘Bill Clinic’.
- Beatitudes: Specialises in pre-loved children’s toys and clothing, helping families make affordable, sustainable choices while promoting circular consumption.
- Dorking Butchery: Celebrated for their commitment to ethical sourcing, they source from local farms to reduce their carbon footprint and use paper packaging to cut plastic waste.
- Martha Russell: Designs timeless women’s clothing and runs a Recycle & Re-sell initiative, encouraging customers to trade in pre-loved items for credit toward new purchases.
- UH Salon: A certified Eco Salon and member of the Green Salon Collective, they use organic hair colour, eco-friendly products, and implement specialist recycling for hair and foil.
- Food Float: This not-for-profit offers fresh, seasonal produce from local growers (average distance just 18 miles), uses a 100% electric van, and supports the Dorking FoodBank.
- Victoria’s Bra Shop: Recognised for its simple but impactful initiative to collect and recycle unloved bras, giving garments a second life and supporting global reuse efforts.
- Anni and Arthur’s Yard: This boutique promotes reuse by celebrating pre-loved fashion, offering stylish second-hand clothing and accessories.
- ALDAG – Re-Use-It Charity Shop & Cups & Co: Promotes social inclusion through workplace training and helps the environment by selling pre-loved items, reducing landfill, and using compostable takeaway cups.
Travel & Transport Award Finalists
This award spotlights organisations encouraging active travel and reducing emissions to make movement around the town cleaner and safer.
- Hello Dorking: Nominated for our annual Walking Festival and Steps Challenge, which encourages residents and workers to explore the town on foot, opting for short walks over quick drives.
Congratulations to all our finalists! The sheer number of Dorking businesses and organisations leading the charge in sustainability is a testament to our town’s values. We wish all the finalists the very best of luck!
