Sustainability
Recyclable by design, not by claim.
Green is in the name, so we are held to it. We take the plastic out at the die-line rather than at the end, engineer paper to do the job the plastic was doing, and hand your compliance team the evidence rather than a claim.
- REACHSubstance Compliance
- HIGGIndex Assessment
- FSC®Chain of Custody
How it actually works
Three moves, in this order, every time.
Swapping a material at the end of a project is how plastic-free packs end up failing a drop test. We start at the die-line, where the decision is still cheap to change.
- 01
Design it out
Most plastic in a pack is there because nobody reopened the decision. Before substituting anything, we redraw the structure so the film, the tray or the tie has no job left to do.
A die-cut aperture instead of a film window keeps the reveal and keeps the pack in one recycling stream.
- 02
Engineer the replacement
Where something still has to hold, cushion or seal, paper has to be engineered rather than swapped in. Geometry, not foam, is what absorbs a drop.
A folded paper cradle holds a bottle in tension and passes the same drop test as the EPE block it replaced.
- 03
Prove it on paper
A recyclability claim is only worth its documentation. Material composition, fibre origin and substance screening are prepared for the market you sell into.
FSC® chain-of-custody references, REACH screening and a recyclability view for the destination country.
Live substitutions
What comes out, what goes in, what stays the same.
Every one of these has been engineered and shipped. The test we apply to all of them is simple: protection has to be unchanged or better, or it is not a substitution, it is a downgrade.
Vacuum-formed PET tray
Moulded pulp insert
Tighter product fit, kerbside recyclable, and it absorbs impact rather than passing it on.
Keeps: Fit and protection
EPE or EVA foam block
Folded paper suspension cradle
Holds the product in tension instead of packing round it.
Keeps: Drop performance
Plastic window patch
Die-cut aperture or cellulose film
Keeps the reveal, keeps the whole pack in one recycling stream.
Keeps: Product visibility
Polybag
Paper garment wrap
Different fold, different humidity behaviour: the fold is redesigned, not just the material.
Keeps: Dust and handling protection
Plastic tape and film seals
Gummed paper tape and paper seals
Printed, tamper-evident and recyclable with the box it closes.
Keeps: Tamper evidence
Plastic void fill and bubble
Crinkle-cut paper fill
Fills the same volume and looks considered rather than industrial.
Keeps: Transit cushioning
Solvent-based inks
Water-based ink systems
Lower emissions on our floor, and no barrier to fibre recycling on yours.
Keeps: Colour density
Virgin board by default
FSC® or post-consumer recycled
Specified at quotation, with the chain-of-custody claim documented from day one.
Keeps: Strength and print surface
Checked by someone else
Three things we do not ask you to take on trust.
FSC®
Chain of Custody
Every certified sheet is traceable from the mill to your pallet, and the claim holds up when a retailer audits it.
Certificate number and scope statement with the quotation
HIGG
Index Assessment
Facility environmental performance is measured and reported on the Higg Index rather than described in a brochure.
Facility assessment shared on request
REACH
Substance screening
Inks, coatings and adhesives are screened against EU restricted substances before they go anywhere near your artwork.
Substance declarations for your compliance file
For your compliance team
Regulation is where sustainable packaging gets real.
For brands selling into the European Union and the United Kingdom, recyclability is no longer a marketing line. It is a documented property of the pack, assessed against defined criteria, and the evidence has to exist before the product reaches a shelf.
That evidence lives with whoever manufactures the packaging. We prepare it alongside the quotation, because a pack that fails an assessment fails at the die-line, and the die-line is decided in the first week of a project.
If your compliance team has a template, send it. We will fill in yours rather than send you ours.
- Material composition by weight, component by component
- FSC® chain-of-custody references
- EU Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) assessment
- UK Plastic Packaging Tax declarations
- REACH substance screening
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) data
What we do not claim
We publish no headline carbon figure and no blanket recycled-content percentage, because neither is true across every pack we make. Ask for the footprint or the content of your specification and we will calculate it against that pack.