Northampton-based company FFP Packaging Solutions has achieved the benchmark environmental standard ISO14001 and has committed to further green goals in driving waste out of the business and minimising waste in their customers’ businesses.

Companies throughout the retail supply chain are under pressure to show that they are minimising their environmental impact, and the achievement of ISO14001 is an important way in which a supplier can prove the quality of their environmental systems.

FFP has been able to take advantage of a government-backed Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme linked to the University of Northampton that has seen an environmental scientist, Rebecca Jones, seconded to the business for a two-year period.

Jones’s role has been to identify areas where FFP could improve environmental performance and reduce waste.

Jones said: “ISO14001 includes a requirement for continuous improvement in resource usage. FFP wanted a more dynamic approach than that to make deep and immediate cuts in energy and materials use."

Part-funded by government, KTP is a Technology Strategy Board programme, enabling innovation in business. The University of Northampton is a participant in KTP Knowledge Base, providing expertise and resources to businesses via a strategic project.

One advance FFP made was by changing the way solvents were handled in the factory and improving waste segregation, reducing hazardous waste by around 15 per cent. In the offices and factory, motion sensors have been introduced so that areas are not lit unnecessarily and saved 70 per cent of the warehouses’ energy.

Jones added: “Waste and environmental management is always a work in progress. FFP was already committed to the process, so that people examine every aspect of what they do to identify reductions they can make. I’m delighted that we have achieved ISO14001, and very pleased with the way that FFP has taken on the wider challenge of reducing its environmental impact.”

Topics