Steve Smith, Carbon Positive Motorsport's CEO, talked with Sonnie Mee Harris, MotoX rider and the owner of Mee Refurb Ltd.
Steve explains: "Sonnie has become a personal friend through a shared love of motorsport, and so I was delighted when one afternoon in the CPM office a notification of an offset purchase from Mee Refurb Ltd came into my inbox.
"Sonnie chose to offset a considerable amount of litres of fuel, backdating his offset to cover the first four months of 2022's diesel fuel and motorsport related fuel usage. Going forward Sonnie is offsetting his fuel usage every month, which is even more cost effective for him."
CPM are very honoured to be partnered up with Sonnie and Mee Refurb Ltd. as regular and valued customers, and so we decided to ask Sonnie what was behind his decision to offset and about his participation in motocross.
Why did you decide to offset your diesel vans fuel usage using Carbon Positive Motorsport?
We heard about Carbon Positive Motorsport through Steve Smith. I've known Steve for a while now, due to local Warwickshire network groups and the fact that occasionally he comes over to our Warwick base and hot desks at our venue. We got chatting and of course we both have a love for all things motorsport, so that's where I learnt about CPM. When we looked at the website we realised that we could also offset our company van carbon footprint by purchasing the offsets. Mee Refurb Ltd operates in the construction sector, and we took a decision a couple of years ago to try and reduce our carbon footprint as a business, so using these fuel usage offsets from Carbon Positive Motorsport helps us to do that.
Tell us more about Mee Refurb - what do you do within the construction sector?
We are an interior fit out and refurbishment specialist to commercial and industrial businesses all over the UK, but our main customers are from the office, manufacturing and retail sectors.
I'm proud to say Mee Refurb Ltd is 30 years old this year, and probably our best achievement to date is a £2M head office refurbishment for a blue chip property developer in Birmingham.
You have a passion for motocross bikes, what do you ride and what are your personal achievements? Away from work, motocross is my passion, from competing at races to restoring older bikes. In the early 2000s I worked up to a good expert amateur level, winning some races and racing in national championships more recently. I placed top 10 in the British 125 championship, but I mostly ride for fun now and compete a couple of times a year.
I mainly concentrate on restoring motocross bikes nowadays and have set up another company to do that, I've recently restored two ex-factory team Husqvarna’s to showroom condition and I have also built a few others for some customers who are really happy with the results.
What's the future for you in motocross and what's your ambitions for both racing and Mee Refurb?
My motocross addiction will continue with racing when I can. This year we're competing in the 125 British 2 stroke championship at the 2 stroke festival over a weekend in August. We'll also be racing at the Veterans Motocross Des Nations held over the August bank holiday at Foxhill near Swindon, and the 125 Super Evo challenge at Wakes Colne near Colchester in October. We will continue to grow Mee Refurb by securing new clients and maintaining all the ones we have - it is our policy to keep our customers for life!
You can check out Mee Refurb on their website at www.meerefurb.co.uk or follow them on facebook @MeeRefurbLtd and you can keep up with Sonnie's motocross exploits @SonnieMeeHarris on twitter. You can help to make motorsport environmentally sustainable whether you're an event organiser, a competitor, a spectator, or a business involved in motorsport.
It only costs a little to make a big difference, so for more information, or to become Carbon Positive yourself, visit carbonpositivemotorsport.com