Niche manufacturing SME Nicab Ltd ditches plastic packaging for paper alternative
Award winning manufacturing company Nicab Ltd is leading the way again – this time by transitioning away from plastic to paper packaging of its products. The company, which niches in manufacturing premium industrial wire and cable assemblies, hopes the move will convince others to follow suit and also help the environment.
Nicab MD Nick Locke comments: “I genuinely despair at the number of plastic bags we have to throw away – it’s thousands a month. We’re a microcosm of the wider industry and if we’ve been doing it then so has everyone else. So we’ve decided to transition almost entirely away from plastic to paper packaging of our products going out of the door to customers. Even the tape we tape up boxes with is now paper-based. Only a small fraction of what leaves us now uses plastic packaging, where it can be a very specific component. We are leaders in our field of manufacturing so want to be seen to be leading the way in our environmental credentials, too."
Nick adds: “What’s been heartening is that customers have embraced what we’re doing and are now asking us for details, wanting to adopt the processes themselves. In years to come it’s moves like this that hopefully will lead people to ask: ‘Why did we ever use plastic!?’”
Since Nick founded Nicab in 2010, it has successfully grown and become relied on for its precision and ultra-reliable wire and cable assemblies by industries/sectors such as emergency services, hospitality, medical devices and music.
Located at the Silverstone Park tech/innovation campus adjacent to the Silverstone F1 circuit, Nicab has also won awards for its fair treatment of staff and its approach to apprenticeships and supporting young people. The average age of its 30-strong workforce is 34 years.
Nick continues: “Many of my customers, suppliers and staff are younger than me so they are more in tune to environmental issues than people of my generation perhaps. I’m not an ‘eco warrior’ by any means, but moving to paper packaging seemed like a small yet obvious thing to do, in addition to recycling and having low-energy lighting installed in our premises. In fact, moving to paper packaging seems like a more worthwhile shift.”
Nick says paper packaging is just as robust as plastic – particularly as couriers often carry parcels in protected, temperature-controlled environments.
“It costs us a little bit more as a business, but that cost will come down in time and it makes no difference to how we function – anyone can do it. It would be easy to stand back and say ‘until China does it we don’t have to’. This is thought leadership, innovating and we’re showing it can be done.”
Find out more about Nicab Ltd on their member profile page here
Member-created content 6 days ago | From members