Member Article

PFF Group invests £200,000 to reduce carbon footprint

Food packaging specialist PFF Group is investing £200,000 in new transformer technology which will significantly reduce carbon emissions at its Keighley site.

Family owned PFF Group is one of the UK’s largest independent food packaging manufacturers, supplying supermarkets, multi-national food manufacturers, food service and fresh produce companies across the country.

In the first stage of the phased installation, the new voltage management technology will reduce PFF’s energy costs and increase efficiency at the site, resulting in a 5% reduction in the firm’s carbon footprint.

Supplied by Sheffield-based smart energy solutions manufacturer Powerstar, the transformer enables electricity to be transferred from one circuit to another at changing voltage levels, to improve the safety and efficiency of power systems and reduce carbon emissions.

PFF General Manager Lee Brydon said: “As a producer of sustainable packaging, PFF places great importance on using resources efficiently and this latest investment demonstrates that we take our carbon reduction commitments very seriously.

“Transformers become less efficient as they age and upgrading our existing equipment will increase power resilience and enable greater energy efficiency, thereby lowering our carbon footprint.

“Plastics continue to have a vital role to play in food production and our objective is to produce packaging that delivers the most sustainable solution when accounting for whole life costs - from production to transportation emissions, food waste and recyclability. Carbon footprinting offers the most accurate assessment of the way our products impact on our planet. Therefore, reducing our carbon footprint is the biggest thing we can do to protect the environment.”

Sustainability is a core value for PFF, which is a member of two environmental global initiatives, NEXTLOOPP and Operation Clean Sweep. NEXTLOOPP aims to produce the first commercially available high quality food grade polypropylene (FGrPP), while Operation Clean Sweep seeks to ensure plastic does not end up in waterways.

Alastair Morris, Chief Commercial Officer at Powerstar said: “Upgrading an aging transformer fleet offers enhanced power resilience, lower costs and greater energy efficiency, as well as an effective route to reducing carbon emissions and, ultimately, to achieving net zero. We were delighted to help PFF Group on that journey.”

PFF Group recently launched a health division with an investment of £2 million and has been producing millions of disposable polythene aprons at its Washington site for use by frontline NHS and social care workers.

PFF’s packaging and health divisions are members of Made in Britain, an initiative which champions UK manufacturing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Abbott .