SUSTAINABILITY
PAPER BACK I
n 2020, along with everything else, the world produced 900% more plastic than it did in 1980 – 50 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year and it is one of the reasons why more and more manufacturers are looking to improve their environmental credentials by re-thinking their packaging. That includes Hanson Cement, who has developed a new bag for its premium Multicem cement that considerably reduces the product’s overall impact on the environment, helping both the company and its merchant stockist to bolster their sustainability credentials.
Plastic has become the bogey-man of most industries in recent years and the new Tough bag reduces the amount of plastic used whilst still ensuring the bags meet the needs of customers.
Andrew Simpson, Hanson Cement’s packed products director says: “A few years ago, cement packaging was all about waterproofing the bag so it could be stored outside. However, we have done a lot of research over the last few years, and toughness came back as the number one priority for builders on cement packaging, not waterproofness. After that came water resistance, ease of handling, ease of opening, and ease of pouring.”
The construction industry is responsible for 59% of the UK’s 202.8 million tonnes of waste annually and, with the impending plastic packaging tax, suppliers are going to have to think about just how much plastic they actually need to use. “This is the toughest paper cement bag on the market, it’s resistant to bursts, splits and tears. That’s why we’ve called it Tough bag,” Simpson says. It’s the same premium
Multicem as the plastic bag, so the customers are still getting the quality they know and like. “This packaging is weather resistant, rather than waterproof, and we shrink wrap it anyway, so it can be stored outside covered for six months or uncovered up to two weeks.” Another benefit is that, due to the packaging method, the Tough bag paper bag
can be filled around four times as quickly as a plastic bag, making it a more efficient product to make and, because there are 56 bags to a pallet, to deliver too.
Simpson says that the landscape around plastic packaging is changing. “You now find that beer cans come with a snap-pack rather than the plastic ring carriers. Many hotels are removing plastic bottles for toiletries, there are reusable fruit and vegetable bags in the supermarket and you can’t get a plastic straw in Macdonald’s any more. People are really trying to take out as much plastic from their lives as they can.” Tough bag has only four grammes, giving it a carbon footprint that’s 2 to 2.5 times lower than that of the polythene cement bag which has around 90g. “The big motive for us as a business is to remove as much plastic from the supply chain as we can and to increase our efficiency.” Tough bag was initially launched this Summer through Jewson and Simpson says the reaction has been fantastic. “It’s not the sustainability champions that we want to hit with this message, it’s the branch staff, the branch managers and the key stakeholders who are the ones who make the decision to say “Stop buying plastic, buy Tough bag”. There is a traditional mindset in the industry that builders don’t care about the planet and Simpson says the sector needs to move beyond this. “Builders are consumers like the rest of
January 2021
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
us and understand that their impact on the environment needs to change. They have the same pressures from family and society and realise that plastic packaging is becoming an issue.”
“The construction industry is the second largest consumer of plastic after the packaging industry. We think we have a really strong environmental story to tell our customers and their customers with this bag,” he continues. “If you don’t need a plastic bag, for your product, then why have one? It is more robust, certainly, and some of our other products – the ones that contain lots of aggregates and bits with sharp edges, are harder to use with paper bags. So, there is still a demand for plastic packaging, and it is up to us to work out how we convert the end users and the builders into these new types of packaging where it’s appropriate.
“As a group, we’ve pledged to become carbon zero company by 2050. On the face of it, cement probably seems like a fairly environmentally un-friendly product. So, what we’re doing here, as well as the in-roads we’re making into how we actually make it, is really going to help us achieve our carbon reduction aims. And I think others are going to follow suit. I think over the next two or three years this bag technology is really going to grow. It’ll be good for us, good for our customers, good for all our margins and good for the planet.” BMJ
15
AS HANSON RE-WRITES PACKAGING RULES
Plastic isn’t so fantastic any more. Hanson Cement tells Fiona Russell Horne what it’s doing to make its packaging that little bit less impactful on the planet.
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