Redditch business pushes envelope to 100% recyclable and biodegradable stationery
Redditch-based Adare SEC has become the UK’s first postal services provider to commit to using window envelopes that are 100 per cent recyclable and biodegradable.
The company’s Adare Post service uses around 115 million envelopes a year to deliver its clients’ communications, all of which previously included a plastic-based window. Due to the windows, the regular envelopes created around 30 tonnes of plastic landfill waste every 12 months.
To address the issue, the integrated communications solutions provider has partnered with French envelope manufacturer Pocheco to convert to a fully recyclable and biodegradable product. The new envelopes, which are supplied by Pocheco to Adare Post’s exact specifications, retain a window, but it is made from pulp which is entirely biodegradable.
At present, Adare SEC is in the top 15 per cent of the world’s most sustainable communications solutions companies, as evaluated by global independent CSR assessment agency EcoVadis. However, the business is aiming to get in the top five per cent in 2020.
Adare SEC’s clients include financial services company Allianz, multinational commercial bank Santander and nature conservation charity RSPB.
Adare SEC chief operating officer, Tom Prestwich, said: “By being the first communications solutions provider in the UK to use 100 per cent recyclable and biodegradable envelopes, our Adare Post service is leading the way in reducing the environmental impact of the postal process."
The way the envelopes are delivered to Adare SEC’s sites also reduces the carbon footprint created by importing them from France by almost 60 per cent. This is because the envelopes are delivered in wooden crates that can be reused and most importantly stacked, reducing the number of journeys made from France to the UK from seven per month to just three.
Adare SEC is a leading provider of technology-led integrated communications solutions and has a turnover of £69.7m. The company employs 440 people, with 68 of them based in Redditch.
