TRIPLE CROWN

Three Briman companies are showing why buying British made is a‘win-win’

Buying British-made products is no longer a‘heart-over-head’ decision–thereare lots of solid reasons whybuying British is both good forbusiness andgoodfor theplanet

This is theclear message from Briman, theBritish manufacturing group supported by theBPMA. Briman companies areBPMAaccredited and verified members.

A2021‘Buying British’survey conducted in partnership with OnePollwhichquestioned 1,000 purchasing and procurement decision makers at British companies revealed that buying British remainsapriority forBritish businesses:

•91% of respondents agreed it wasimportant to buy Britishmade products

•82% would paymorefor British goods

•87% of buyers at British companies considered where something wasmadebefore purchase

•54% were morelikelytobuy aproduct when seeing aBritish flag on packaging or marketing materials

Here’s howthree Briman members have made huge strides withtheir businesses by focusing on bothUKproduction and sustainability.

Investing in thefuture

First Editions is aleading British manufacturer of reusable promotional drinkware and has ‘reshored’ all but one of its product SKUs to theUK.

The companyhas invested heavily in sustainable solutions too, including moving to 100% renewable energy By comparison, major manufacturing bases suchas China and India still generate their energy using morethan 70%fossil fuels. This has been a vital part of First Editions’focus on its overall product carbon footprint.

To that end, thefactory employs a‘closed loop’ production process and the companydeliberately chooses material grades whichhave alow environmental impact.

In addition, its focuson reusable bottles is good forthe environment in all thewaysthat single use plastic bottles are not. Arefillable waterbottle has asmaller carbon footprint per use and reduces thesingle-use plastic burden on landfills and oceans.

First Editions has also invested in energy-efficient machinery, using sustainable packaging withnosingle-use plastics and all-recycled cardfor boxes, has increased insulation of all its buildings, upgraded its entire lighting to energy-efficient LEDs andreduced transport miles.

The company’slatest sustainable product is theLOOP bottle,made from recycled plastic milk containers. The reusable bottles aremade in theUKfrom 100% postconsumer wasteand arefood grade-assured, BPA-free and dishwashersafe. The LOOP is fully customisable and presented in recyclable packaging.

Asweet ‘step change’ moment

The Sweet People originally began trading as Liquid Lens, a companyspecialising in high qualitypackaging solutions and utilising thethen very popular technique of epoxy dome branding on plastic pots containing sweets and confectionery.

Identifying ashift in the tastes and demands of its customers, thecompanyrebranded as The Sweet People in 2019 and quicklyset about reducing theuse of plastic containers and epoxy dome branding in favour of printable cardboxes made from sustainable organic and recyclable materials.

The move was a

‘stepchange’moment for thebusiness and enabledit to place itself at theforefront of sustainable promotional merchandise in the UK.

The companyhas continued to make significant improvements in its sustainabilityprofile, including arecent upgradeofits flowwrapped, paper-based packs forbags of mints, jelly beans Skittles and chocolate bars

This has not just been a superficial change,either weet People rinvestment own g plant in hton Buzzard.

Thishas enabled more and more items to be completely manufactured in the UK and thefacilityisalso being offered as anoptionfor other suppliers to bulk ship or manufacture their own goods

The samephilosophy has also been applied to the recent soft launch of a new European-based fulfilment solution This will benefit customers in both mainland Europe and the IrishRepublic with faster, simpler fulfilment and again reduce the carbon footprint associated withshipping these orders from aUKfacility.

Awayfromproduct, The Sweet People also recently appointed acompliance officer, whose role, along withensuring adherence to thevarious food safety and hygiene certificates, will include implementing initiativestohelpcapture and offsetthe carbon footprint from the company ’ s operational activities.

A commitment tothe planet

Juniper is another well-established name on thepromotional products scene and over thepast five years, thecompanyhas pivoted itsbusiness model in two significant ways

Firstly it has replaced manyofits offerings with new,sustainable alternativesmainly manufactured from recycled materials

Secondly incommon withthe other two companies featured here, Juniper has steadily increased the proportion of products it manufactures in theUK.

It also took thedifficult decision to end screen printing and invested further in digitalprinting whichdoesn’t generate waste waterand uses fewerinks. The print qualityisbetter as well

Juniper hasalso removedgeneric plastic from all of its packaging and will nowonly use single-use plastic if aclient –against advice –absolutely demands it.

Likeothers, thecompanyhas moved overto100% renewable electricity. It has also reduced wastetolandfill down to just 5%,withatarget of eliminating this entirely within five years.

Juniper is not complacent. Recognising the need to go even further,the company has begun work on Scope1and 2of its carbon footprint project and is also discontinuing lines wherethe materials no longer meet its sustainabilitystandards.

This commitment is also reflected in pricing. The gap in costs between PU and Juniper’s award-winningCOMO and PORTO rPETproducts is falling fast and the companyisaiming to offer thesustainable materials at identical cost by theend of the year

Good foryou

This commitment to sustainabilityand UK production is not only good forthe companies involvedbut also forthe businesses buying from them

Many large businesses and public sector organisations arefocusing moreand more on aproduct’ssustainabilitycredentials when buying, so choosing UK-produced greener alternativescan help youwin new business, as well as improving your company’sreputation among staff, customers and thewider public.

In theprocess, you’ll be helping to save precious natural resources, reducing theamount of wastesent to landfill and supporting theUKeconomyand jobs. Definitely a‘win-win’for everyone involved.