The Twickenham, Greater London-based company said that, despite initial concerns over the cost of obtaining the award, it had pressed ahead and now recycles a much larger amount of waste.

Leah Jackson, office manager at 12-staff Cyan Group, said: "We use a company called Paper Rounds, which comes in and collects all our paper and cards. We also recycle all of our toners, cartridges and discs.

"We are looking at our suppliers and seeing if they have green practices. We are going to try and make them go green and, if they don't, we will look to replace them."

Cyan Group, which has a turnover of £3m, has also encouraged employees to car-share and sign up to its cycle scheme, where they can buy tax-free bikes through the company.

It said it would use its award for advertising and marketing campaigns "as it is a good way to get noticed".