Watershed Packaging

GREEN PACKAGING

Watershed Packaging is a privately owned flexible print and packaging manufacturer. With passionate staff and state-of-the-art machinery, the company delivers high quality products alongside cooperative service to ensure clients are receiving superior experiences in accordance with their packaging needs. General Manager Paul High discussed the company’s flexible, innovative work and conscientious sustainability measures. Report by Hannah Barnett and Antonia Cole.

Based in Leeds, Watershed Packaging operates from three sites across the UK delivering Flexographic print and packaging as well as in-house design, contract sleeving, lidding and a platemaking facility.

“We've just had our 30th anniversary,” stated General Manager Paul High. “The company was founded by John Waters who began selling tape out of the back of a van and we now employ 65-70 people and had a turnover of ten million pounds last year.”

Watershed Packaging’s core values are quality, service and innovation. These attributes shape the company’s actions, making it the choice of multinational companies with products in over 50 countries globally.

A broad portfolio

Watershed Packaging offers products to the food and drink, cosmetic, household, pet, and nutrition sectors.

It has a range of products including shrink sleeves, die cut lids, tapes and packaging machinery that satisfy broad client needs and requirements.

“Our most popular product is shrink sleeves, which account for approximately 30 per cent of Watershed Packaging’s overall turnover,” said Mr High. “The benefit of shrink sleeves is that they provide an image over the whole of a container of any shape, making them popular from a marketing standpoint.”

The company’s second most popular product is lids, which has seen a growth of around 300% in the past three years. “Generally, that is yoghurt lids, but can also be for products such as noodles or vegetables,” explained Mr High. “The pro duction of labels is still a core market of ours that commonly stretches across retail sectors such as food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.”

The variety of products Watershed Packaging offers means that clients’ individual needs are met to a high standard with specialised packaging for every

product. The company is dedicated to delivering a full service to clients and offers packaging and packaging machinery to clients.

“We are the agent for various suppliers across Europe and offer products from pallet wrappers, boxing machines and taping machines to full automated shrink sleeve tunnels,” said Mr High. “We have our own in-house engineering team that we can send anywhere in Europe to support those processes. So, we can offer an end-to-end service to our customers that attends to their needs.”

Less packaging in landfills

Watershed Packaging runs on 100% renewably sourced energy and has obtained a Guarantee of Origin certificate. It utilises LED lighting to limit energy expenditure and has a focus on recycling materials such as paper and printer ink cartridges in offices.

The company is also involved in CycleScheme, where bicycles are funded for employees to encourage emissionfree travel to and from sites. Watershed Packaging encourages employees to be environmentally sustainable at sites to maximise energy efficiency and reduce the impact on the environment.

An underground tank prevents the flooding of a nearby river and a central separator under the site prevents oil leakage from transport vehicles from reaching fresh water, showing Watershed Packaging’s care for the local environment.

The company participates in Reconomy’s Zero Labels 2 Landfill and Zero Foil 2 Landfill schemes that ensure no label or metallised polyester waste is sent to landfill. “All of our general waste goes into a compactor to be managed at a local processing plant, reducing travel emissions,” said Mr High. “The site has a full living wall down the side that absorbs

carbon emissions from delivery trucks and then burns waste in a vacuum to reduce emissions. The heat from this process is used in Leeds City Centre to heat buildings. If a material cannot be disposed of through this method, we separate it and then it is processed to be recycled and reused.

“The scheme has saved around 500 tonnes of plastic from going to landfill, which we’re really pleased with. We were one of the first to implement these schemes and have now seen them adopted by our competitors. We are proud to have had influence in the industry and encourage participation in these schemes.”

Watershed Packaging has been working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to have independent energy review summary reports undertaken by Business Sustainability Support. “They have made three full factory visits with different auditors and consultants to suggest ways in which we can reduce carbon emissions and improve efficiency,” said Mr High. “We’re part of the

government carbon reduction scheme where we have made an annual commitment to reduce our carbon emissions and if those standards aren’t met, then a donation to environmental schemes will be made.”

The company is looking to invest in solar energy and is constantly reinvesting in recent technologies to make operations more energy efficient. “Newer machines are more efficient and thus reduce energy consumption,” explained Mr High. “We’re constantly looking for ways in which we can be more sustainable.”

Green manifesto

Watershed Packaging’s core values are to innovate, act and invest, whilst placing the customer and sustainability at the core of all decision making. “Many other products i n the flexible packaging market claim to be plastic free, but still contain plastic or more harmful alternatives,” Mr High explained. “There are products that claim to be com -

postable or recyclable that actually cause more harm to the environment than good.

“The company aims to provide an honest view of packaging options.

Watershed Packaging will be providing information on the pros and cons of existing options, upcoming innovations and its own recommendations.

“As the company is not part of any trade-body, in lockstep with any large manufactures or a producer of its own raw materials, the information will be without bias and will be a genuine effort to collaboratively better sustainability standards within the industry.”

Watershed Packaging values relationships with suppliers. “Our suppliers are the experts,” Mr High continued. “We are encouraging suppliers to deliver education days with our team, particularly in

sustainability. We rely on our suppliers to inform us of innovations within the market so that we can continue to grow and evolve.”

The company is selective about who it works with, taking step to only collaborate with suppliers whose values align with its own.

In conclusion, Watershed Packaging wants to continue to grow with suppliers and exist on a larger scale.

“Having these key relationships with our suppliers, where they want to work and grow with us is so important,” said Mr High. “We aim to keep our company values at the core of our decision making throughout the business. We’re trying to grow our team with likeminded individuals and suppliers.”