When people finish eating a fast-food meal what happens to the packaging is rarely a major concern.

But the careless disposal of take-away packaging inspired one man to set up a £1million business to tackle the problem which creates tons of non-biodegrable waste each year.

Andy Sutton, set up Easi-pac in Wandsworth to sell environmentally friendly packaging to the catering industry.

Easi-pac, was named the borough's Green Business at this year's Green Guardian Awards.

And after being commended by judges for "creating a product that will enable us to remove some of the waste from our day-to-day lives" Mr Sutton said:"I believe the take-away food industry is responsible for a large amount of waste in landfill sites and that much of this can be avoided at very little extra cost."

Mr Sutton set up Easi-pac in September of 2003 on the Kimber Centre Business Park and says that he has seen his companies turnover rocket from around £100,000 in the first year to over £1 million.

He said: "We started with a few alternative products as there wasn't a lot of interest from manufacturers at the time. We now offer a wide range of recycled and compostible products, from 100 per cent post consumer waste recycled bags and napkins to the latest fully compostable PLA (a corn starch polymer) tumblers and lids. I spend a lot of my spare time searching for manufacturers of new products and working with new ideas."

Currently, Easi-pac specialises in a range of environmentally friendly disposables made for the food/coffee take-away industry.

These include cups and boxes made of recycled or sustainable paper, disposable cutlery made of wood and cups made of bio-degradeable cornstarch.

Biodegradable carrierbags and clingfilm are also on Easi-pac's product list - see www.easipac.co.uk.

But far from resting on his laurels, Mr Sutton said he now hopes to produce the UK's first 100 per cent compostable heat-proof hot cup.

Through Easi-pac's sister company, Andi-pack, he will also be behind environmentally friendly party packs soon on sale to the retail industry.

Mr Sutton said: "We are working on new developments involving new materials so the future of the company looks very good."

Derek Barrett, who nominated Andi-pac said: "Andy has a genuine interest in the environment and his eyes light up and a huge smile comes across his face if you ask him about any of his eco products or just want to talk about preserving the environmnent."