When delivering high-quality labelling and packaging, Reflex Group has a history of product excellence and technological innovation. Now, the company’s stated mission is to be the world’s most sustainable packaging company. Hannah Barnett spoke to Head of Marketing Claire Stringer-Phillips, Innovations & NPD Manager Kevin Dudman and Quality, Environmental & Sustainability Manager David Liversuch to learn how this mission is being put into practice.
IFReflex Group was known for three things, then it might just be for innovation, quality and scope.
““We offer a complete solution across all the businesses,” said Claire Stringer-Phillips, Head of Marketing. “There aren’t many companies, if any, that have the breadth of capabilities that we have, right from the design con cept. We’ve got Graphic Brands, our team of creative designers, and we
have a pro totyping site so we can get things done quickly and effectively. These fantastic in-house resources save money and boost innovation. Plus, the range we offer across the board is phenomenal.”
Indeed, Reflex designs and manufactures packaging and labels for sectors including fresh produce, meat, fish, wine and spirits, and pharmaceuticals, as well as producing pallet wrap and tape.
The Mansfield-based business has over 1,000 employees, spread across 23 sites and six countries. Not content with expanding its footprint into
Europe, the company now has production facilities as far afield as Australia.
Launching Linerless Lite™
The last 18 months have been particularly productive for Reflex, with the development of the company’s newest flagship item: Linerless Lite™.
The innovative product for the fresh fruit sector is designed to provide the aesthetics of a punnet with the cost appeal of
a label. Applied using a Ravenwood applicator, Linerless Lite™ contains less t han 1% plastic in the entire pack, making it fully recyclable.
“We were looking to design a pack which showcased the product as the hero,” Kevin Dudman, Innovations & NPD Manager explained. “It was about having a large window so a consumer could see inside, although we were printing on a board substrate. Traditionally, any apertures on this type of packet must be small to retain the parts and keep the pack security. We’ve managed to successfully cut larger apertures and have them laminated in very thin strips of film. This showcases the product and retains the pack security.”
After successful trials and a launch from Integrated Service
Award-winning
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award at The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) Awards 2024
• FIA UK Print Awards 2024 included four Gold, plus five further awards in Silver, Bronze and Highly Commended Categories. Gold environmental accolades included: - Technical Innovation for Linerless Lite, M&S Organic Kiwi.
- Operational & Environmental Sustainability for Reflex Liner Recycling Project.
Solutions in Kent, a four pack of kiwis was the first to use this new concept of packaging; Linerless Lite™ was rolled out across M&S stores in January.
“That combination of a cardboard tray with a large window aspect for visibility was one of the key drivers initially,” added Mr Dudman. “When we first showed it to M&S, it ticked a lot of boxes for the M&S sustainability drive too.”
Linerless Lite™ joins a swathe of new and innovative products in the impressive Reflex portfolio, including self-adhesive
labels which attach to either side of a liner to maximise yield and a paperbased band for bananas which reflect transportation conditions.
“Bananas are obviously picked in very hot and humid conditions in the Caribbean,” Mr Dudman explained.
“The fruit is dehydrating all the time when it’s packed, so there is a lot of testing regarding the direct contact of the material onto banana skins. This means we can be sure the bananas will reach UK shores with the band still intact and doing its job.”
One of the company’s biggest challenges on its path to be the most sustainable packaging company has been to replicate the functionality of plastic on paper.
“We’re talking about moisture retention, oxygen depletion impact and the ways of extending shelf life that are needed to manipulate paper, and cardboard in particular, in a far more sustainable way,” Mr Dudman explained. “That invariably comes down to putting coatings onto these types of products to give them the functionality that we’re trying to replicate.”
Reflex has the freedom to be so innovative in part thanks to its Proof Plus site in the East Midlands, where the company can test prototypes to ensure they are achievable at full-scale production.
“ We’ve invested a huge amount of money into this state-of-the-art facility,” said Mr Dudman. “It means we can develop, test and showcase these products across al l of our categories.”
Environmental enhancements Reflex is also keen to continually improve its own sustainability. Since 2019, Reflex has been Carbon Neutral, and recently the
company has been working with Carbon Neutral Britain to independently calculate and offset Scope 1 and 2 emissions for both its UK and Australian operations.
“This means our data is independently verified and it shows we have correctly calculated our carbon footprint,” said Quality, Environmental & Sustainability Manager David Liversuch. “This takes into account any carbon residue, which there will always be in manufacturing, and ensures we have offset it with UNbacked schemes.”
Over last 18 months, Reflex has installed nearly 700 PV panels at its Newcastle site and is about to start a further installation of another 600 panels at Boston. This takes the company’s total solar panels to over 2,000.
Not content to stop there, Reflex is in the early stages of finding appropriate partners to help it to calculate Scope 3 emissions too.
“We are looking at the ways and means of doing it,” said Mr Liversuch. “Obviously, it’s a lot of work with our suppliers, and it may mean using an outside company to aid us, and then having a dialogue with our customers as well. We are getting some demands from customers to get
a specific carbon footprint for their products, and that is not necessarily a simple thing. We may need to work with a company to help us from a software-based perspective as well.”
Innovation through investment
Moving forward, Reflex will continue to produce the innovative and sustainable products no other business is capable of manufacturing. Thanks to being independently owned, the company boasts speed to market that sets it apart.
“We have a very short process of machine and product investment back into the business,” said Mr Dudman. “Our owner, Ian Kendall, is particularly passionate about our environmental status and the innovations that we do, so we are a very flexible and dynamic company in that regard.
“Unlike other companies that are venture-capital owned and look for evaluations of commercials first, we take the experience of our people when we need new or adaptive machinery to develop something. If a product looks like a good idea and sounds like a good idea, then it generally is a good idea, and we will invest in it.”
Indeed, working for a company that is flexible and listens to its employees is one of the things that makes Reflex such an attractive workplace.
“There is a lot of dynamism and opportunity here,” concluded Mr Liversuch. “If someone has a good idea in a larger, more corporate, environment it might take six to 12 months to even be discussed. At Reflex, there is that sense of individual opportunity to put certain ideas forward and have them be taken seriously and addressed quickly.” n
