Think globally, act locally: creating a positive impact

With over 40 years’ experience, Reading-based wholesale packaging supplier Swiftpak has reached a new milestone. Last year, Swiftpak was thrilled to achieve its B Corporation accreditation, which reflects its passion for creating a positive impact.

It was a no-brainer for Swiftpak to take a step forward to join the global movement of people using business as a force for good. Undertaking the B Impact Assessment put down on paper the great things Swiftpak was already doing, and will continue to do, while helping to bring corporate social responsibility further to the top of its agenda.

Craig Gulley, Managing Director, is thrilled to be part of the movement. “We realise that we don’t just have an impact on our team members and customers but also on the environment and the wider community,” he says. “We might not have all the answers, but we take responsibility and aim to create a positive impact on all stakeholders, which we call the Swiftpak impact.”

This is not just an empty statement, but a real promise Swiftpak is accountable for through the B Corporation certificate. It meant continuing to put more ideas into practise. This began by establishing a partnership with Ecologi, allowing customers to offset their paper packaging waste and lower their carbon footprint by planting trees. If you talk the talk, you need to walk the walk, and Swiftpak has now been a climate positive workforce for a full year and planted almost 2,000 trees.

With the topic of sustainability highly valued, Swiftpak is continuously looking for innovative new sustainable packaging alternatives. It has recently hired a new head of innovation to help bring new sustainable products to life faster.

Innovation is not only seen in the product line but also digitally. The company recently launched an online Stretch Wrap Calculator, where businesses can input their existing stretch wrap figures and discover if a reduction in plastic usage is possible. Previous experience has shown that this can result in up to 74 per cent less plastic waste.

Alongside sustainability, helping the community through charitable donations and volunteering has always been part of Swiftpak’s ethos. Swiftpak believes in the concept of giving back, so it actively encourages members of the team to get involved by supporting a charity of their choice with a paid working day. In 2020, Swiftpak supported the wider community by providing hand sanitisers, masks and anti-bacterial sprays to care homes and a school with residential care for children with disabilities.

As a family business that truly cares, Swiftpak keeps a close eye on the wellbeing of its staff and has found that the impact of the lockdown affected team members in different ways. Raising awareness for mental health has become an undeniable topic, especially over the past year, and Swiftpak has now trained four team members as certified mental health first aiders.

Packaging is not often in the spotlight, but during the pandemic it has played a vital role. Swiftpak was able to maintain consistent packaging supplies to key pharmaceutical companies to help roll out the vast amount of Covid tests. During the lockdowns, a steep increase in people ordering food to their door could be seen and while meal delivery companies were struggling to keep up with demand, Swiftpak made sure that packaging was not one of their worries.

Swiftpak has always provided its packaging with a personal touch through its dedicated team of industry experts. There are no bots that answer the phone or website chat, nor will there ever be –Swiftpak believe that personal relations are key and human contact is what customers appreciate, something reflected in its 4.9 Trustpilot score.

As part of the B Corporation community, Swiftpak has now built closer relationships with other businesses that have the same aim and hopes to encourage more companies to join the journey. By building a more inclusive and sustainable economy, we can build a better tomorrow.

To find out more about Swiftpak, visit www.swiftpak.co.uk

Originally published on Business Reporter