The UK Government and the European Union are pushing for reduction of single use plastic packaging and replacing it with more sustainable alternatives.

Cleary this ambition is one everyone can understand and support. At Select Automotive we are firmly behind this initiative as it is essential that we all play our part to reduce our impact on the natural world.

As a consequence of this on 1st April 2022 the UK Plastic Packaging Tax came into force. 

The tax is applied at £200 per tonne to plastic packaging that contains less than 30% recycled content.

Essentially the effects of the tax means that manufacturers of plastic packaging pass on the ‘cost’ of the tax to their customer so this has helped to accelerate the desire for companies to switch to paper based alternatives including tape and bags. A very positive change of course.

Thankfully there are lots of options and new products are being released in the packaging space which are environmentally friendly, but this has lead to a spike in demand for cardboard and paper.

This spike in demand is pushing up the prices of paper-based sustainable solutions which is compounded by the fact that many paper mills are also suffering from increased electricity costs across Europe.

The net result of this increase in demand and inflated energy prices have been passed on to the packaging companies customer, in other words ourselves which eventually can have the effect of pushing up consumer prices.

As an example prices of our custom boxes has increased 40% in 12 months, with further price increases on the cards over the next 12 months or so.

As a business we are committed to operating in a sustainable way, but the plastic tax and the spiraling cardboard prices are making this extremely challenging.

It will be interesting to see how other businesses are adapting to these challenges. 

At Select Automotive we are embracing it head on, ensuring we stick to our core values and do whatever we can to protect the environment whilst operating our business in a transparent and responsible way for the benefit of our customers, partners and suppliers alike.

Learn more about our business at www.selectautomotive.co.uk