Packaging Solutions Green Solutions: Positive About Print
At Westbury Packaging the packaging is produced sustainably. But now the company has gone one step further by achieving carbon neutrality.
Carbon neutrality is achieved by calculating your carbon footprint and reducing it to zero through a combination of in-house efficiency measures and supporting external emission reduction projects.
Part of the process at Westbury involved setting up a robust environmental policy, which covers everything from energy, recycling, fuel, vehicles, lighting, office/factory temperatures, travel, employee behaviour, and much, much more.
The company has implemented a number of changes to achieve carbon neutrality:
Energy – all power comes from sustainable sources’
Vehicles – the company has been using hybrid vehicles for the last three years and is now updating its fleet to electric. It also installed electric vehicle charging points in 2019.
Lighting – the factory is lit by LED lighting.
Environment – fast close doors on the factory mean that is it more efficient to maintain temperatures within the facility.
Recycling – all waste from the manufacturing processes are baled in-house and are recycled back into the supply chain.
Mindset – carbon neutrality needs full support from the whole team. A combination of training, policies and procedures means that everyone at Westbury Packaging is right behind the initiative.
According to research by edie, 68% of UK shoppers say the environmental impact of a product’s packaging affects their purchasing choice. Since gaining this certification, Westbury Packaging is working to move all customers over to using only FSC certified cardboard. This means that we is helping to secure a long term source of paper and therefore packaging whilst also meeting customers’ needs.
The company has also invested in two schemes to offset any vehicle fuel used whilst it transitions its fleet to electric vehicles. The schemes are tree planting in the UK and supporting a project which prevents deforestation in Uganda.
The company says that it continues to plan and design more ways of improving the workplace to reduces the impact on the environment.
Ben Tupman, managing director of Westbury Packaging, explained: ‘The climate and the future of our planet is critical and we owe it to future generations to reduce our direct carbon impact. I am extremely proud of the team for achieving carbon neutrality and we are all committed to continuing this journey.’
