Birmingham-based Linpac Group has won the Environmental Company of the Year category at the UK Packaging Awards 2008.
Linpac is an international manufacturer and marketer of plastic food packaging, plastic returnable transit packaging (RTP) and other products. The company has manufacturing facilities on five continents and employs 9,000 people worldwide - more than 1,500 of them in the UK.
The award was presented by TV presenter John Inverdale at a ceremony at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London on Monday. It recognises the company in the packaging sector that has done most to minimise its environmental impact over the year while demonstrating total commitment to environmental improvement.
Judges commented: “Linpac was a finalist in this category last year but has stepped up to be a deserving winner in 2008. It took its environmental message public when it partnered with the BBC’s Inside Out programme in July to highlight the challenges in recycling plastics and the current collection schemes offered by local authorities.”
Linpac’s recycling division has grown considerably, and last year recycled an amazing 34,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste - more than the total annual production of its packaging division in the UK.
In May 2007 Linpac established an internal environment group to research and provide solutions to the environmental issues facing the plastic packaging industry and its customers. The business is now a leading innovator in lightweighting (i.e using less raw material per packaging unit) and the use of recycled and biodegradeable plastic materials - even for food-grade packaging products.
Another principal division, Linpac Allibert, manufactures RTP products that improve the use of space in the retail store and in vehicles through their nesting, stacking and folding features - thereby reducing carbon miles. The same division also offers tray washing and repair services that can extend the life of RTP crates to 25 years.
Linpac runs a group-wide energy reduction programme to improve energy efficiency. Targets are set for each company location at the beginning of the year, and more than 200 individual energy saving projects have been started so far in 2008.
Mike Arrowsmith, Linpac Group ceo, said: “It is clearly an achievement for a company specialising in the manufacture and marketing of plastic products to be named Environmental Company of the Year. Linpac spends time listening to its customers and takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. It is easy to dismiss plastic as an environmental villain, but we believe it is better in the long run for the environment than more traditional packaging materials. Linpac leads the industry in terms of plastic recycling, packaging lightweighting, and in the manufacture of recycled and biodegradeable packaging products.”
