Andrew Barnetson - CPI

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ePolitix.com speaks to Andrew Barnetson of the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) about the importance of corrugated packaging and the corrugated industry parliamentary reception on November 18.

Question: Corrugated packaging remains the most commonly used packaging in the UK; what are the benefits of using this type of packaging?

Andrew Barnetson: First of all, corrugated does the essential job of packaging which is to protect the products. Packaging has obviously failed if it doesn't do that and corrugated does it very well. The structure of corrugated packaging does a very good job of protection with a very low amount of material, so it is a good use of resources.

More than that, what sets it aside from other packaging materials is a combination of its versatility and its cost effectiveness. In terms of versatility, design opportunities in corrugated are so good that you can have completely bespoke packaging.

If you want a certain height or a certain shape or a completely novel design, we can do all of that in corrugated. And because you can have any size or any shape, you can make the very best use of space and that then becomes a business case to the customers and the retailers.

We can also make the best use of space in transport so that translates into fewer truck journeys. Corrugated packaging also allows retailers to make best use of the space on the shelf in the retail environment, which is very important to the retailer as they can get maximum use on the shelf.

The other advantage of corrugated is in printing. With corrugated packaging, we have superb opportunities in high quality printing and very good graphics which ties in very closely with the retail experience. Retailers and brand owners want the best impact on shelves and customers want to be able to see what they are buying very clearly.

Therefore, the opportunities that corrugated packaging offers are its versatility of bespoke size; cost-effectiveness in the use of transport and on the shelf; the printability of the product; and the value that it adds to the customer's experience.

Question: The corrugated paper industry is proud of its record on recycling. Can you tell us about the CPI's corrugated recycle campaign? What steps is the industry taking to reduce the environmental impact of paper?

Andrew Barnetson: One of the big messages we have with corrugated packaging is the environmental aspect. We have the best recycling record that I am aware of for any packaging material. Not only do we have a high level of recycling but we have a high level of recycled content, as we use a large amount of recycled fibre. Eighty-four per cent of all the boxes in the UK market place are going to be recycled this year.

Of the boxes that are made in the UK and go into the marketplace, on average, three-quarters of the fibre being used has already been recycled. We are completing the recycling loop by using recycled fibre and then recycling the packaging again.

That is an environmental story that we are very proud of. What we have done in the UK is to adopt a logo from America – the Corrugated Recycles Logo – which is available on our website for anyone to see. We are encouraging member companies to use the logo in discussion with the customers and to remind people that you can recycle corrugated packaging. They can also visit the website where they can find out more information about our recycling campaign.

The logo itself has become the figurehead for our environmental campaign. We sponsored the Grocery Advertising and Marketing Industry Awards (GRAMIA) recently and we used the logo because it carries the message. We are encouraging the members to use it on all printed packaging that is made in the UK so people can become aware of our recycling story. The industry knows how good we are. However, some customers and retailers don't appreciate this aspect of our work and the general public is certainly unaware of it therefore it is important for us that everyone understands the superb recycling record of corrugated packaging.

Question: In terms of the steps the industry is taking to reduce the environmental impact of paper does the corrugated paper industry support any sustainability projects?

Andrew Barnetson: Absolutely. This becomes a slightly different issue because the paper that is made for corrugated packaging is where the real savings can be made. That is where the sustainable sourcing comes in. That is where a lot of the energy use comes in.

It is down to the paper makers to source paper responsibly, to go through FSC or indeed, the PEFC accreditation systems. It is down to them to cut their energy use in the factories and that is certainly going on. It is down to them to make better, lighter-weight paper so we can do the same job with less material. All of those things are going on, one-stage back further up the line in the paper making companies.

Of course, in practice they often are the same groups. In many cases it's the same groups that own a paper-maker and a corrugated plant. Therefore, you can have a first stage of energy saving, sustainable resourcing and light-weighting of paper in the mill and then a second stage in the corrugated plants where there are fewer opportunities but certainly still ways to save energy and do things more efficiently.

The use of corrugated for the customer also means opportunities for energy saving through things like fewer truck journeys as I mentioned earlier.

Therefore, it is not just about any one stage in the chain but about all the stages working together. Yes, we are doing lots of things to reduce the impact of paper and I would say the impact of paper compared to some other materials is already significantly lower.

Question: You recently sponsored the Brand Experience Awards at the Grocer's 'Grocery Advertising and Marketing Industry Awards'. How can corrugated packaging be used to enhance the consumer's experience of brands?

Andrew Barnetson: The GRAMIA awards were a new experience for us. We are embarking on a promotional campaign to raise awareness of the things I spoke about earlier on. Our desire to get into the GRAMIA awards was focused on the printing opportunities of corrugated.

As I've mentioned we have wonderful opportunities for really high quality printing with high impact to the customer and end user. More than that because of the nature of corrugated – it is bespoke, it is very fast moving and the industry reacts quickly – you can actually have opportunities to change the image during a promotional campaign.

For example, if a supermarket has a stand during the football World Cup, we can actually change the branding as we go through week by week. There are wonderful stories to tell in printing and the corrugated industry is really conscious of being at a turning point.

We are moving away from the traditional brown box into a high quality, really well printed, packaging system that is focusing on the customer's experience.

The reason we went to the GRAMIA awards is because The Grocer clearly is a very high impact journal for the retailers. Their marketing and advertising awards gave us the opportunity to speak to designers and retailers and tell them how corrugated packaging is an important material for the 21st century.

We have wonderful printing opportunities and it is something that we would like them to consider as they design packages for the FMCG market retailers.

Question: What steps is the paper industry taking to meet the distribution needs of the future?

Andrew Barnetson: Corrugated packaging has been around for a long time. We have been meeting the need of the consumer in terms of distribution for decades and we have got a very good history of having adapted for a long time. In terms of what we are doing for the future, the big change that is coming now is retail-ready or shelf-ready packaging.

The concept that has come from the retailers is that they have introduced very good logistical systems. They get the products from the farm all the way through the system to the back of the store. Retailers have recognised that the last 100 metres is the critical point now.

That is where they incur the cost and that is where typically the operator will open a brown box, unload bottles and put them on the shelves. The corrugated industry has worked very closely with the retailers to develop this retail ready or shelf ready packaging where one set of packaging goes all the way through the system right on to the shelf.

This means that the retailer has much better efficiency in that last 100 metres as the system is going through much faster. It provides better efficiency in store keeping the retailer happy and the reduction in costs is passed on to the customers ensuring they benefit too.

We can use the printability and the flexibility of corrugated packaging to achieve this. We have the ability to print any image and create any size box to fit any size shelf. We are able to print on the inside of the box and as the retail ready is part shopped, it still looks good.

We can make sure it's an attractive experience for the shoppers. Therefore, in modern society where things tend to move faster and need to be more efficient and look better, more demands are being put on the corrugated paper industry and we are delivering those demands and it is all happening at lower cost. That is where corrugated earns its money by being really efficient retail ready packaging.

Question: Can you tell us about the Corrugated Industry parliamentary reception on November 18? What are the main aims of this event?

Andrew Barnetson: We recognise the importance of speaking to MPs. We've started to develop a number of messages for different audiences. The environmental message is that we have a higher recycling record; we use a lot of recyclable content and; paper is a sustainable resource.

This is an important message for the general public and also for the customers. The messages that I have talked about in terms of bespoke packaging, any number on demand, printability is an important business case message for the retailer.

What we are developing now is a third set of messages. The fundamental importance of corrugated to society. Society really could not run without corrugated packaging and there is a reason why it's still the most common packaging material in the UK because it is fundamental.

Huge amounts of material are successfully used for the transport of goods around the UK and then successfully recycled. Take for example the emerging trend of mail order through the internet by companies such as Amazon. Amazon relies on corrugated for its packaging. Amazon couldn't send books and DVD's around the country without the corrugated packaging that it uses.

Therefore, we are developing a third message: the importance of corrugated to society and that's what we will be taking to MPs. The message that it is important to society.

In the broader scale of things, the discussion that we will have with MPs will be that of course these are difficult economic times and manufacturing has been suffering as energy costs rise and customers move out to the Far East. What MPs need to appreciate is that in all of this we must have a manufacturing base.

We must have corrugated packaging to keep the wheels of technology rolling. And those MPs with corrugated plants in their constituencies need to appreciate how important those plants are for the running of the country and indeed, for their constituencies.

Therefore, we are complementing our other messages with this third set of messages for MPs and also making them aware of the business case and the environmental aspects as well.

We are bringing everything together on November 18 by hosting a buffet lunch in dinning room A, House of Commons and all of the corrugated plants in the UK are writing to their local MPs inviting them to attend. We are going to host the event and there will be opportunity for open discussions and presentations.

We hope the MPs will be able to learn a little bit more about what we are doing and why we are such an important material for the future.