Speciality Food Feb/March 2024

specialityfoodmagazine.com 41 PARTNER CONTENT SOLVE YOUR PACKAGING PUZZLE THE SUSTAINABLE WAY… Ranpak has the solutions to help you drive your business forward W hen shipping products, whether it’s keeping food cold in transit, or protecting fragile items from damage, effective protective packaging is key. Protective, fast and cost-effective solutions that go hand-in-hand with sustainability can be achieved using Ranpak’s paper wrapping, void fill and cold chain applications... RECYCOLD® CLIMALINER™ FOR SUSTAINABLE COLD CHAIN SHIPPING RecyCold® climaliner™ is a simple-to-use paper thermal liner which protects frozen, chilled and ambient products from temperature fluctuations for up to 48 hours.. RecyCold® climaliners™ are recyclable, renewable and biodegradable. With 2 thicknesses and 3 lengths available, climaliner’s flexibility allows it to fit most box sizes. Combine RecyCold® climaliners™ with RecyCold® cool packs which contain biodegradable plant-based gel and can also be printed with your logo! GEAMI® PAPER PROTECTS FRAGILE PRODUCTS DURING TRANSIT Wrapping is an essential eleme nt of packaging. Geami® paper is designed to prevent damage caused during transit. Geami® is 3x faster to pack, requires no tape to seal, and items can be easily bundled together to save you packing time and material. Providing up to 60% better protection and taking up significantly less space than plastic bubble, Geami® comes in a variety of options to suit every size of business. FILL THE VOID WITH FILLP AK® GRASS PAPER Paper is highly effective in filling the void in boxes and locking products in place. When items are prevented frommoving during transit, the chances of breakage reduce. Paper absorbs shock and is also more sustainable than plastic alternatives such a loose fill, airbags and plastic bubble. CONSUMERS ARE DEMANDING SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING With a range of FSC papers available, including recycled and grass paper, Ranpak is your ideal eco-friendly paper packaging partner. All of our papers are FSC approved showing your customers you care about sustainability. GET IN TOUCH TO FIND THE RIGHT SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS It’s your time to switch to a plastic-free, in-the-box paper alternative that doesn’t cost the earth. Choose a packaging solution that cares for your products and the planet. Your journey to sustainable shipping starts today! For more information, visit ranpak.com or contact the UK team via uk.info@ranpak.com or 07881 274288 don’t realise that it ‘outperforms’ for their purpose. “Most of our customers don’t need chilled items held for 72 hours, unless they are sending them to a different country.” “Polystyrene, for a long time, has been the benchmark for performance,” Simon agrees. “But obviously there are questions around its sustainability. Most people need a 24-hour to 48-hour window, and our products offer that without ‘over speccing’.” Icertech is currently working towards being B Corp by 2025 due to customer demand but also because it matters to the business internally. Sustainability is “in our mission statement, and discussed every single day within the office,” Simon says. “The focus is that, yes, the customer demands this, but also, as a family business, we want to do right by the environment as well. Everyone is behind that mission in the company. Our new products offer performance while being fully recyclable.” Simon adds that they’d like to see less plastic being used within the business, while Alex counters that at the moment there isn’t a viable alternative material for, for example, their ice packs. And while they can look at streamlining the amount of plastic used here, or can use recycled plastic materials, technology in this part of the process needs to catch up to what industry and consumers expect. Something the business is actively doing to ‘offset’ the use of plastics in making its coolants, is controlling its footprint across the manufacturing process. “We have solar energy, and we’re currently doubling the amount of solar capacity,” says Simon. “We’re looking at rawmaterials, and how we canmake themmore efficient, and whether we canmake the plastic thinner. We’re trying to find efficiencies within the energy we use to lower our carbon footprint and carbon cost.” In the past year the business has decreased the amount of electricity it draws from the mains by 47%, while increasing production hours on site, and waste has been cut down by 32%. Icertech has also carried out product lifecycle assessments across its ranges, which will be translated to the customer over the comingmonths, so they have access to data for reporting purposes. “It’s about informing customer choice,” Simon explains. “As much as sustainability is a buzzword, we also need to give them something imperial and numerical to go by.” What does the future hold? Michelle says consumers will continue to dictate movement in the thermal packaging sector. She’s seeing growing demand for fully recyclable options, vegan- friendly solutions, and BRCGS accreditation – something Sorbafreeze holds. “It’s a recognised symbol of quality assurance, legal compliance, and high standards in packagingmanufacture.” BRCGS accredited businesses must uphold rigorous standards throughout the manufacturing process, demonstrate complete traceability of materials, carry out strict quality checks, and assure packaging is food safe.