Green Statement

Polyprint is proud to support community and environmental projects and has won awards for its contributions to the Environment and Sustainability

Since its formation in 1988, the company has put environmental matters at the heart of our operations, achieving high environmental standards long before they became either fashionable or statutory and imbuing an environmental responsibility at the heart of our culture. Whether innovating in products, developing better processes, or creating initiatives - often at our own cost - the company leads its sector in environmental responsibility  

  • Polyprint was one of the first companies in its sector to achieve the ISO14001:2004 accreditation (in 2007), has held ISO9001:2000 since 2000 and is an active member of the East Anglian Business Environment Club, run through University of East Anglia.

  • We set specific environmental objectives each year.  For example, in 2008 they were: 

    • Reduce contaminated rags disposed to landfill - saving 10.5 tonnes; we now recycle all cleaning cloths through a launder process.

    • Reduce general waste sent to landfill - we achieved a reduction of 14.8 tonnes compared with 2007.  Over four years we have reduced our waste sent to landfill by 84.7 tonnes (70%) per annum.

    • Recycle 75% of wooden pallets - achieved

    • Replace bottled water system with a plumbed-in water system - saving approx 240 plastic bottles a year

  • We have recently commissioned a Carbon Trust survey and have subsequently developed an energy policy to ensure that we minimise our usage of all types of energy.  Eight specific recommendations have been actioned.

  • We have increased the amount of waste sent for recycling from 37% in 2004 to 72% in 2008.

  • We have been recycling our polythene products since day one, in October 1988, many years before we were required to do so.  We have measured our waste since the mid 1990s (i.e. before the Packaging Regulations were enacted) and have seen waste reduce steadily since then.  Polythene is essentially a waste by-product of the petroleum industry and is totally recyclable without the degradation in quality which occurs in paper recycling - meaning it can be recycled more or less forever.

  • We are taking a leading role in educating and leading our industry towards recycling.  There is considerable uncertainty surrounding the use of degrading agents in polythene; we offer advice and guidance to anyone in the industry who asks for it, free of charge - even to competitors.

  • We are so committed to recycling, that we voluntarily take in other companies’ waste inks, at no charge.  Generally bespoke inks are stockpiled in printing plants, as they are costly and difficult to dispose of. Polyprint has developed processes to recycle many of these products and we feel that we have a responsibility to use these processes to dispose of not just of our own waste inks but all those that we can throughout the industry.  We also take ink from ink companies’ other clients for recycling.

  • We pioneered thinner films and were the first in the UK to use 12 micron film in the mailing industry, where the previous standard was 30 micron.  As well as saving on raw material usage, this has a significant saving in our transportation carbon footprint.  One million magazines wrapped in 12 micron film gives a weight saving of around 3 tonnes, which impacts on delivery of our raw materials, the delivery of our finished product to the mailing house and the onward delivery of the wrapped magazines to the end user.

  • We accept polythene for recycling, free of charge, from anyone who wants to send it to us.  We receive on average seven large boxes and three mail sacks of post each day.  In addition, working with Broadland District Council, we have pioneered the installation of two polythene recycling bins outside our Rackheath factory.  The general public fill these bins several times a week; we manage the project and process the recycling free of charge as part of our responsibility to the local community. Although we have achieved much, we continue to strive for further improvements in the environmental sustainability of the business. We remain enthusiastic to make a difference and to ensure that our business is sustainable for the future.