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Plastic FAQs
As an organisation committed to sustainability, we have always taken our environmental responsibility seriously at Suma. We invest in research and development to reduce our plastic usage, whether that’s for our own products or the materials we use to deliver our customers’ orders. At times we’ve even pushed boundaries by creating new kinds of reduced-plastic packaging. We have done a lot already and will keep on doing more. We can’t do it in isolation though. It will take action from other businesses, local authorities and ultimately government if we want to see plastic use reduced. As always, we’re ready and willing to work with others to make change happen.
As an organisation committed to sustainability, we have always taken our environmental responsibility seriously at Suma. We invest in research and development to reduce our plastic usage, whether that’s for our own products or the materials we use to deliver our customers’ orders. At times we’ve even pushed boundaries by creating new kinds of reduced-plastic packaging. We have done a lot already and will keep on doing more.
We have a host of measures in place, from how we develop our own product packaging to how we wrap our pallets. We have designed our entire prepack range of nearly 300 products to use 20% less
plastic packaging. We use 100% compostable wrap for our paper products. We sell a number of products, including our Ecoleaf cleaning range, in bulk refill drums, which we arrange to be recycled, and we recycle the wrap for our customers’ orders.
Suma has consistently explored sustainable alternatives to plastic and it’s good to see that government and industry more widely are beginning to see the importance now. There is so much more we can do. For our own part we will continue to invest in research and development that will help Suma reduce plastic usage in our products and warehouse, and we will keep a very close watch on wider developments.
Suma has always focused on sustainability – it’s been our mission for over forty years – and minimising plastic use is core to our operations. What’s more, this commitment is mirrored by our customers, most of whom are organisations that use us because of our thoughtful and ethical approach, so it’s vital that plastic reduction is top-priority for Suma.
We can’t pretend that plastic reduction is also a way to reduce costs. For wholesalers, where stock needs to be stored for long periods of time and where products can travel some distance from our suppliers, packaging needs to be robust. That’s why we invested in research and development around plastic reduction.
The best advice is to think long-term. Plastic is unsustainable – for the environment of course, but also for businesses. Whether it’s the cost of plastic disposal and recycling, or a plastic tax that is likely to be brought into effect in the near future, starting to address plastic use now will benefit wholesalers in the long-term.