Published - 19th Sep 2024
In a groundbreaking alliance that promises to help your businesses on its packaging journey – by providing labels, identification solutions and packaging, Dura-ID and RH Fibreboard have also joined forces on Sustainability.
Dura-ID and RH Fibreboard, both proud members of the Goonvean Group, have independently implemented eco-friendly practices across operations, from offices to factories over the past few years. Now, united by our shared commitment to a greener future, we’re embarking on an ambitious joint venture to create a comprehensive environmental and sustainability plan. This collaboration will leverage our combined strengths to deliver innovative solutions that protect our planet.
Much of the partnership Dura and RH have developed has been about shared goals and offering customers packaging and labels from what is essentially the same source. This has been done through marketing, referring, networking and having joint regular meetings and discussions around our sectors and customers. However, a wider plan to bring some of the sustainability activities together is taking shape. Both businesses are on a sustainability pathway. For example, RH Fibreboard has recently launched ‘PROTECT’ their sustainability pathway to net zero plan and just in the last few months, Dura ID has launched a range of products under their ‘PLANET FIRST’ mission.
This blog will look at what our individual businesses and facilities are doing, along with how this will develop into a shared partnership.
We will start by looking at our products.
Everything that is manufactured out of our Bristol and Wellington facilities are 100% Recyclable, biodegradable and safe for composting and around 80-85% of everything we produce is made from recycled material, where Kraft paper is used in the process, it all carries FSC® certification proving its origin from well managed forests. The aim is to provide custom made cardboard box designs that minimise waste, tape, plastics and other material types which are not as sustainable. Both glue and starch which are also used in the process, are safe for the environment. Alternative products are also being sought from other waste products such as sugar cane waste, which potentially carry a lower carbon footprint
Investigation and feasibility studies are being carried out at our Paignton factory (which specialises in wristbands) potentially being made out of biodegradable polylactic acid coated papers. A range of wristbands in eco-friendly materials are on offer. Made from FSC® certified mono-materials offering good tear resistance these wristbands we supply are 100% recyclable. Our Enviro range of labels and tags, supplied from Barnsley, Paington and Durham include biodegradable material types, and efforts are being made to increase the amount of biodegradable materials within these, of course the challenge is in some industries its counter-productive for them to biodegrade too quickly (i.e. horticultural tags). At Dura, in the last two years, we have stepped up our efforts into increasing the amount of post consumer waste in our identification products, and even our high tack/adhesive products now contain up to 30% PCR.
Both Dura and RH Fibreboard rely on a print offering to customers, for branding, important information regarding handling, legal and regulatory reasons. Its therefore important that ink is durable and stands the test of time. The ink industry are proactively and constantly introducing new products to the market, using recycled products where possible and extracting products from a circular loop. Flexo inks used on our corrugated products are water based and safe to compost. Ink pigment and colour often contains a varnish. Historically some of the pigment used in varnish is mined out of the ground, but in the last few years we have committed to an ink supplier that guarantees at least 25% of the varnish in its inks are made from cornstarch, a renewable material. Likewise, our Dura factories will utilise inks for the same reasons. For labels, the whole reason for their existence is to contain information. Around 75% of the inks used in the process for labels are water based. Again, for durability many inks contain a UV varnish which is unavoidable to stop degradation (if the label or ID product was underwater for example). These UV varnishes we use are however, zero waste.
As already noted, Dura and RH Fibreboard use printing inks as part of their offerings on boxes, tags, wristbands and labels. Our production facilities have ink mixing systems. This gives the benefit of matching colours from run to run more accurately and having greater control over the amount of ink produced. Without these ink kitchens, ink would be purchased in buckets per pantone colour and there is often waste as you would need to buy enough ink to make the job. Surplus ink can be stored and reused, but it has a shelf life, and there are often varying shades from order to order from the supplier so control is much harder. Being able to mix inks on site means that we only need to produce what is required for that particular run. This not only cuts down on waste, but also mileage by truck deliveries. If we didn’t have mixing facilities buckets of ink would delivered up to a few times a week. Now, the ink kitchens are formulated from base colours and varnishes that are delivered in much larger canisters a lot less frequently, which cuts down on transportation.
Within RH Fibreboard, investment and exploration has also started on the feasibility to have Solar Panels on some of the facilities, and LED movement sensor lighting has already been installed in our factories and where this hasn’t been installed yet, there is a plan for it. Much investigation is going on in the plants within Dura ID too, particularly with machinery and equipment at the main facilities in Paignton and Barnsley along with the smaller sites. The big projects have included lighting the factories, either installing new LED’s where necessary and stipulating LEDs on any new factories.
Electricity, energy and fossil fuel usages is also being looked at. Dura and RH along with other companies in the Goonvean Group will have their electricity REGO certified from a renewable standard by October 2024. In addition to this, suppliers are encouraged to use delivery vehicles and companies which have a low carbon footprint offering and promote electric vehicle use. Policies have also been developed in both businesses which will mean fully electric or plug in hybrid company vehicles need to be procured. To support this, two of the RH Fibreboard factories and three of the Dura facilities have installed electric charging points for employees, customers, suppliers and other visitors. This is also to encourage and promote sustainability. Dura ID have also implemented a cycle to work scheme.
Along with the lighting and electricity projects, energy saving projects are also in place across our facilities. The new waste system at RH Fibreboard uses a conveyor belt system instead of a vacuum to remove waste off the machines, which has saved around 75% energy compared to the old system. Likewise at Dura, a large energy saving and monitoring project is currently underway and voltage on some of the production machines is being regulated.
Outside of the work being done on machines, much of the daily activities within our factories is to do with encouragement. For example, at Dura, we ask for the core centres to be returned to us after the labels have been used. We also give our customers more of an indication of which of our products can be recycled by placing a green sticker on the outer box to let them know that the stock materials are recyclable. This aids and ensures that they are put in the correct waste stream. At RH fibreboard, we donate overruns to staff and customers who may need boxes for personal use, and we use print set up sheets as layer pads and dividers on pallets of product to aid stability. Further to this, we step outside of the production arena’s and into the community by educating local school children and communities with free tree planting projects that we run in their classrooms.
Analysing activities from our despatch departments is also part of the process of becoming more sustainable. The focus is very much on cardboard and paper-based materials. At RH, we are lucky, we can make our own parcels for sending out samples. We also utilise paper tape and if products are posted to us, we re use this material to send out items. Dura facilities do the same, bubble wrap has been eliminated and replaced with paper and corrugated paper for packing.
In line with our focus on sustainable products, other business led activities include homeworking where possible, ensuring we make the most of on line meetings instead of using emissions for on site meetings. This is particularly important because of our broad geographic spread. In group, supplier and customer meetings online are all encouraged, and where on site meetings are required, clear objectives are set for these appointments.
Our plan over the coming months and years is to collaborate further, with regular meetings and projects on all business activities but Sustainability will be at the forefront of our agenda’s as we strive towards looking after our local and global environments.
