Sustainability and Innovation: Swiftpak’s key to the future

Swiftpak is a Business Reporter client

With its intelligent green packaging solutions that meet regulations while considering the bigger picture, Swiftpak is ahead of the game

Swiftpak, a Certified B Corporation, firmly believes that innovation and sustainability go hand-in-hand. By continuously innovating, the Reading-based packaging supplier is in a position to introduce more sustainable products, lower its carbon footprint and minimise waste. Swiftpak strives to continue to keep sustainability at the forefront of its R&D process.

“Design is now a fundamental part of the definition of sustainability,” says Swiftpak’s Head of Innovation, Craig Allen. “The design of any new packaging now applies a greater focus on the impact of that packaging for its whole life – from manufacture to how it will be dealt with at the end of its use. Recyclability will hopefully be part of an economic, fit-for-purpose solution with the focus on minimising impact to meet the world’s requirement of a sustainable future.”

This push for sustainability driven by innovation has only been intensified further by the Plastic Packaging Tax that came into place this year. As of April 2022, plastic packaging containing less than 30 percent recycled materials incurs a tax penalty. To help make life easier for customers, Swiftpak ensures transparency through its online portal, where the percentage of recycled content in each product is now clearly shown.

Swiftpak has been proactive in bringing sustainable value through innovation while not ignoring the bigger picture. An example of looking at the grand scheme is stretch wrap. Relatively quickly after the Plastic Packaging Tax announcement, a new stretch wrap with 30 percent recycled content came to market. While in theory it sounded great, Swiftpak decided to hold off on the promotion of this product as the film was significantly thicker, meaning that companies would end up using more plastic than with Swiftpak’s MWrap. Promoting the product would have been counterproductive, as with the increased usage, customers would not only spend more even with avoiding the tax but also create more waste. However, in the past few months, rapid developments have been made. Following extensive research and development, Swiftpak launched a new stretch wrap in its MWrap range with 30 percent recycled content that has the same capabilities as the other MWrap stretch films – without losing any efficiencies or creating excess waste.

Swiftpak has recently launched multiple other products containing recycled content, such as the Premium Polypouch bags with 30 percent recycled content, strapping with 100 percent recycled content and foam profiles made from 100 percent recycled material. The introduction of the Plastic Packaging Tax has only pushed the importance of sustainability and innovation and encouraged the development of innovative solutions to meet the new standards that the tax has created.

Swiftpak has also launched brand-new recyclable paper-based solutions such as Honeycomb Paper Wrap – a bubble wrap alternative that is made from 100 percent die-cut kraft paper. This sits alongside Swiftpak’s bubble paper, another alternative to traditional bubble wrap.

As a well-known industry expert in the food and drinks sector, Swiftpak has additionally launched a temperature-controlled Vegan Thermal Liner that is made from 100 percent recyclable materials and has a positive CO2 balance – verified by 1,000 climate tests.

Sustainability is clearly a topic high on Swiftpak’s agenda, which is why it strived to become carbon neutral. This certification was achieved in the first quarter of 2022, showing Swiftpak’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of sustainability at every level of business.

“At Swiftpak, we truly care about our impact on the environment,” says Craig Gulley, Swiftpak’s Managing Director. “By becoming a carbon-neutral business, we are taking an additional step to make a difference and creating a better tomorrow.”

Swiftpak’s sustainability commitment is witnessed not just through the certifications it has been awarded and its packaging innovations but also in its advances in the digital space. Last year, Swiftpak launched an online Stretch Wrap Calculator where businesses can input their existing stretch wrap figures and discover if a reduction in plastic use is possible. Previous results have shown that this can reduce waste by up to 74 percent. This goes hand-in-hand with Swiftpak’s established partnership with Ecologi, another Certified B Corporation, which allows customers to offset their paper packaging waste and lower their carbon footprint through the planting of trees directly on the portal. Swiftpak has so far planted almost 6,000 trees in a forest and has offset more than 420 tonnes of CO2e by sponsoring various projects such as producing electricity from wind power.

With more than 45 years’ experience, Swiftpak continuously finds new ways to combine sustainability and innovation to create a better tomorrow.

To find out more, visit swiftpak.co.uk

Originally published on Business Reporter