It’s all too easy to dismiss plastic as an environmental villain. At LINPAC Packaging we believe plastic packaging is the most sustainable way to preserve and protect most goods. Societies without sophisticated packaging typically lose half their food, for example, before it reaches consumers. All our plastic products can be recycled, and many are designed to be reused.
There is no other packaging material that performs quite like plastic – nothing so versatile, lightweight and cost-effective. Metal takes large amounts of energy to create and recycle, while wood and cardboard need to be replaced more frequently. Plastic is recyclable, lasts longer, is lighter and is more hygienic.
Through technological advances and clever design, the average weight of plastic packaging has reduced by more than a quarter over the past decade.
Our challenge as a packaging producer is to continue to create innovative and effective products for customers by using fewer raw materials and less energy. By providing efficient services, manufacturing reusable products and offering recycling facilities, we are helping others to reduce the amount of waste in their own supply chains and to close their recycling loops.
For nearly two decades LINPAC Packaging has been setting the environmental agenda for the packaging sector. We have adhered to a formal environmental policy since the 1980s and all our facilities are committed to conserving resources, reducing energy consumption, minimising emissions to air, water and soil – while complying with all relevant environmental legislation – exceeding standards wherever possible. We use less:
- We aim to reduce the average weight of our packaging by around 5% each year
- We reduce our energy consumption by around 10% each year
We recycle:
- We manufacture a range of trays and punnets using recycled PET
- Our waste management services cover the baling and recycling of cardboard and plastic – reducing the amount of our customers' waste going to landfill
- Nearly all our products – from food packaging to litter bins – are recyclable.
We reuse:
- We supply shelf-ready packaging that can be collected ‘back-of-store’ and reused
- We manufacture, supply and manage returnable transit packaging (RTP) solutions, and provide maintenance and repair services to prolong their life
- Some products incorporate recycled material – including food-grade post-consumer waste
- Our stand-alone shipping containers do not need supplementary packaging and many have secondary uses as storage containers, buckets, etc.
We have biodegradable:
- We offer a range of packaging products made from polylactic acid (PLA) – a renewable and 100% compostable plastic material derived from farm crops.
In May 2007 LINPAC Packaging established an internal environment group to research and provide solutions to the environmental issues facing the plastic packaging industry and its customers. The company is now a leading innovator in ‘lightweighting’ and the use of recycled and biodegradeable plastic materials – even for food-grade packaging products.
Plastic RTP has become the first product of its kind to be fully tested against the new standard PAS (Publicly Available Specification) 2050: 2008 Assessment of the Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Goods and Services.
The new standard, introduced and endorsed by the Carbon Trust and its partners, is the only available benchmark for this kind of assessment. It sets a level playing field against which all companies can measure the carbon footprint of their products. Carried out by independent environmental consultancy Sustain, the assessment measures the performance of very specific, comparable containers within specific criteria, in accordance with the requirements of PAS2050, to take account of the whole life cycle of a product.
LINPAC Packaging runs a group-wide energy reduction programme to improve energy efficiency. Targets are set for each company location at the beginning of the year.
In recognition of its environmental achievements, LINPAC was named Environmental Company of the Year in the prestigious UK Packaging Awards 2008.
