Sustainability, Reducing CO2 Emissions and the Agriculture industry

Leading suppliers of flexible packaging NPP are making moves towards a more sustainable packaging offering. The company has introduced an innovative animal feed bag and Fiber Film pallet wrap that has helped agricultural business Kiernan Milling reduce its carbon footprint by up to 63 tonnes per year. 

NPP worked closely with Kiernan Milling through the testing and implementation of this unique packaging offering. The micron or thickness of the animal feed bags has been reduced whilst also integrating 30% recyclable material. This new blend can help reduce carbon footprint by up to 55 tonnes annually. NPP is currently trialling packaging using 40% recycled material. The aim is to include as much recycled materials as possible without compromising the quality of the bags.

Speaking about the changes, Gareth Carroll, Business Manager at Kiernan Milling said, “Sustainability has been at the forefront of our business plans. It was important that there was no impact on the quality of the feed bags which allowed us to continue business as normal. Since January of this year, we have started to use NPP’s new Fiber Film pallet wrap, reducing our carbon footprint by an additional 8 tons each year. It has also reduced the amount of wrap we are putting around the pallets by 43%”.

The change to Fiber Film from regular pallet wrap is part of NPP’s ‘Carbon Free Fiber Film Initiative’ offered in conjunction with Megaplast and Tree Nation. As part of this initiative, tree’s will be planted to offset the CO2 emissions generated from the manufacturing and the use of Fiber Film. The film can reduce usage by up to 60% and has shown to increase pallet stability.

Speaking about the initiative and how it works, Peter Ahern, Sales Manager at NPP said, “The CO2 emissions generated will be calculated and then Tree Nation will plant trees on behalf of our customer to offset the emissions. A certificate is then sent annually to the customer to show the number of trees planted and the amount of Co2 that has been offset. So as well as significantly reducing plastic usage, Fiber Film is now also carbon free”.

The average Irish household uses 4,200 kilowatts of electricity per annum, this is the equivalent of 1.36 tonnes of CO2. The changes made by Kiernan Milling with the help of NPP is the equivalent of powering 46 houses per year.

Peter Ahern, Sales Manager at NPP said, “We want to do our part as best we can by moving our business in the right direction and helping our customers to do the same. We know this will take time but it is the right thing to do”.

NPP provides packaging solutions to many businesses across a wide range of industries – food, industrial, pharmaceutical and agricultural. To find out more about NPP, its sustainable packaging offering and Carbon Free Fiber Film Initiative, please visit www.npp.ie or call head office +353 1 880 9299