Sustainability​

We know we think differently about polythene. This is demonstrated not only in our cutting-edge products Polylite, Polyair and Polycomp, but also in our approach to sustainability across our entire business.

Thinking Differently

Over the last few years, we have focused on becoming the ‘greenest’ company in the polythene industry. This has been achieved by reducing our impact on the environment. We set our sights on carbon neutral status by:

  • Moving into 8,000 sq ft premises in Witney equipped with a highly efficient renewable energy system that is currently operating as ‘carbon neutral’.
  • Improving our use of resources, including recycling all our waste paper, glass, cardboard, plastic & polythene; reprocessing rainwater; supplying a local animal shelter with bedding from our shredded paper; and installing EconoSpeed in our delivery vehicles, which delivers up to 15% fuel savings.
  • Thinking differently about staffing. Working together with local youth charity Base 33, we developed a new initiative to recruit and support long-term unemployed young people. They join the tele-marketing team initially before moving up into the sales team. A larger sales team means increased sales of our environmentally conscious products and in turn, increased carbon savings across the UK.
  • Achieving savings from our renewable energy system, reducing our fuel spend by £16,000 p.a.; generating 19,000 kWh p.a. which saves 9.2 tonnes of CO2; generating 150,000 kWh of heat p.a. which saves 30.9 tonnes of CO2.
  • Helping our customers see the bigger picture by offering a free consultation service on all aspects of cost savings, product specifications and improving a company’s carbon footprint; by teaming up with Oxfordshire-based Earth Save Products, we also use our premises in Witney to showcase renewable energy solutions and increase overall awareness of their benefits.

 

Looking ahead, we have plans in place to improve our green credentials. These include installing a 3.5kW wind turbine, to enable us to generate and sell additional electricity back to the national grid. Alongside promoting our bio-based product Polyair film to reduce our demand on fossil fuels, we plan to implement a bio-fuel system on our premises to encourage staff to switch their cars to using biomass.

“Polythene UK are not only leading packaging experts, we are also leading the way for change within our industry. We are proving that the heavily criticised polythene industry can in fact change with the needs of today’s society in order to build a better world for tomorrow.”

James Woollard
Managing Director, Polythene UK

Click here for Greener, Carbon Neutral Polythene

The Polythene UK offices showcase the latest in renewable energy systems:

A 25kW Solar PV System – supplying us with free electricity during daylight hours.

A 300 L Ecocent Air to Water Heat Pump – which extracts heat from the server room and is used to heat our hot water. Cool air is also created which is directed back into the server room and offices as free cooling.

2 x 25 Kilowatt Air Source Heat Pumps – these will heat approximately 4,000 sq ft using electricity from the solar PV system. As the Ecocent is supplying our hot water, the Air Source Heat Pumps only have to work in the cold winter months, making this combined solution the greenest, most cost-effective solution in Europe.

Thermovec Radiators – these high-tech, low-cost, high-performing radiator units only require hot water to be heated to 40°C in order to run efficiently.

LED Lighting – running on electricity generated by the solar PV system, LEDs provide an 80% energy saving on conventional lighting.