How To Make Your Business More Sustainable

These days, it’s generally recognised that to be a good business you have to be a green business. The question is no longer ‘Shall we go greener?’ but ‘How shall we go greener?’ There is undoubtedly a continuous pressure for businesses to be more sustainable – but far from being a costly bind, being more sustainable is good news for your long-term business prospects, your revenues and your relationship with your customers. It’s a myth to think that adopting more sustainable practices will cost you more money – in fact the opposite is true. Investing in sustainable packaging, or installing eco-efficient lighting in your office for example, may cost more upfront but it will actually save you money in the long term. Read on to find out why it’s important to be a greener business and some of the best ways to start your sustainability journey… Why Is It Important To Be A Sustainable Business? Whether your business is food manufacturing or manufacturing chemical products for the healthcare, animal healthcare, commercial cleaning or automotive industries, making your business more sustainable can only bring benefits. Enhance your eco-friendly reputation – and boost your sales! Most consumers now expect the brands they pick up off the shelf to be packaged in a sustainable way and the companies who make them to be following eco-friendly practices. Going greener should only boost your reputation in the sustainability space and encourage consumers to invest in your product. Reduce business costs Currently, importers and manufacturers must pay a tax rate of £200 per tonne of plastic packaging that doesn’t contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Switching to more sustainable packaging will reduce the amount of PPT you have to pay further down the supply chain, thereby reducing your business costs. Encourage innovation Changing your working operations to be more sustainable encourages you to innovate and differentiate, to make sure you’re adapting to a market with shifting ideals and values. Moving with the times and being at the forefront of new ideas and practices will only help your business grow. We’ve established why it’s important to go greener as a business – but the even bigger question is, how do you go about it? Read on for some of the best ways to make your business more sustainable. Invest in high content recycled materials Ensuring that your products – and their packaging – contain high levels of recycled content will largely determine the level of waste your company will dispose of and help ensure your business’ contribution to landfill is minimal. Reduce Waste Every company produces waste, but what’s key is how you reduce what you produce. Using recycled paper, installing energy efficient lighting and heating in your office and refurbishing your tech are just some of the ways you can begin waste reduction. Invest in sustainable packaging The recyclability of plastic is one of its key strengths as a resource-efficient material. Contrary to popular belief, packaging that contains a high recycled plastic content such as HDPE (high density polyethylene) and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) isn’t more expensive than virgin material, it costs about the same – and you have the great advantage of being more environmentally responsible by using it. Measure and reduce your carbon footprint As the first plastic packaging supplier to achieve Carbon Neutral status, we’re passionate about helping our customers do the same. Measuring the carbon emissions your business produces is the first step – you can use an online calculator to do this. Once you’ve calculated your emissions, you’ll know how far you are from achieving Net Zero status. Then, set a target and plan an environmental strategy to help you reduce that footprint in an efficient way. Through our 5-step process to more sustainable packaging, Cambrian is helping companies all over the country strategise and take measures to reduce their carbon footprint. Contact us to see how we can help you follow suit. Use local and/or sustainable suppliers and partners This will go a long way towards making sure that your own business is following sustainable practices. Through our Sustainable Packaging Service, Cambrian works with companies all over the UK – and Europe – to help solve their packaging problems in the most sustainable way possible. Using local partners and suppliers will also help reduce the transportation of materials and goods, which is great for reducing your company’s carbon footprint – and your business costs! Change up your everyday working practices There are lots of things you can do in your everyday working practices to make your business more sustainable. Some examples include cycle to work schemes; recycling all plastic and cardboard packaging on your business premises; using an anaerobic digester to turn animal or food waste into fertiliser; going paperless, or having heating and lighting on timers/sensors so you’re not wasting energy when the office is closed. Get environmental accreditation Becoming ISO 14001, BCorp or WFTO accredited will give you more knowledge about becoming a more sustainable business, as well as give you an official roadmap to follow for becoming greener. It will also enhance your reputation with your customers as a sustainability pioneer! Be sure to do your research though. There are a lot of accreditation schemes out there and it’s important to choose one that’s right for your business. What Is Cambrian Doing To Be More Sustainable? As one of the first packaging suppliers to be awarded Carbon Neutral status, at Cambrian we’re constantly innovating and evolving and working out ways to be more sustainable ourselves! We invest heavily in recyclability and recyclable packaging products – we now have 52 lines that include recycled material, and by switching from virgin to 30-100% recycled material, in the last 12 months, we’ve saved a whopping 102 tonnes of plastic from going to landfill. From our Zero PPT products (our HDPE, rHDPE and PET ranges) to our 100% recycled ECycle™ range, we’re constantly looking for ways to make our plastic packaging more sustainable. In 2021, we installed LED light fittings to the offices and warehousing at our HQ, reducing our energy consumption. All of our sales reps transitioned to plug-in hybrid vehicles two years ago and we’re currently in the process of moving over to electric vehicles. We’re working towards a ZERO-waste to landfill scheme – we have skips for plastic and cardboard recycling at our HQ and we also recycle any damaged pallets from our warehouse. We’re ISO14001 accredited – since 2015 we’ve been demonstrating our commitment to protecting our planet, by implementing this global standard of environmental management systems and guidelines. How Cambrian Can Help Your Business Be More Sustainable At Cambrian, we’re passionate about packaging and helping our clients all over the country find more sustainable solutions to their packaging problems through our Sustainable Packaging Service. This service includes our 5-step process, which gives you a roadmap for upgrading to more sustainable packaging and becoming a more sustainable business. 1. FREE consultation – a chat about your business’s packaging needs at a time convenient to you that costs you nothing. 2. Analyse current packaging – to see what level of recyclability it’s capable of, how it reflects your brand values and the chemical compatibility required. 3. Specify more sustainable and cost effective packaging alternatives. 4. Send out samples of these alternatives for you to test independently against your product. 5. Deliver your new packaging in the shortest lead times out there.

For more information on How To Make Your Business More Sustainable talk to Cambrian Packaging