Fourth generation UK cider maker Thatchers has saved around 20 million plastic rings from being discarded in the last twelve months alone.
Thatchers has been able to dispense a single use plastic product through introducing innovative, duo-wing cardboard packs to enclose multipacks of its best-selling canned ciders.
The UK’s leading independent family cider maker first undertook this ground-breaking initiative five years ago. It now estimates around 100 tonnes of plastic has been saved during this time thanks to the new packaging for its best-selling ciders that include Thatchers Gold and Thatchers Haze.
The commitment to the environment has taken one more important step further, with Thatchers ensuring that all the cardboard in its consumer product packaging is certified as coming from sustainable sources. Thatchers has used PEFC-certified paper board for its cider multipacks, working closely with packaging supplier Westrock to bring this to fruition.
Supply Chain Director for Thatchers, Gary Delafield says: “Working with Westrock to ensure our duo-wings are made with PEFC-certified board is an important part of our sustainability commitment. We are always looking to actively do the right thing across our cider making and packaging, and the PEFC certification assures our retail customers and consumers that our cardboard has been sustainably sourced.
“Our retail customers trust us to lead the way in sustainable packaging, and our consumers have confidence in us that caring for the world around us is part of who we are. We were one of the first British cider makers to replace plastic rings with recyclable cardboard packs and now we are able to demonstrate full confidence throughout their production with PEFC-certification.”
As a family business Thatchers is constantly thinking about what it can do to protect the environment and cut carbon. By working with Westrock, who produce the Thatchers outer packaging at their conversion plant just 20 miles from the cider mill, Thatchers is also reducing the number of road miles undertaken in transporting the packaging.
Thatchers recognises the critical role that forests play in the protection of the global environment in alleviating climate change. Indeed, as a cider maker reliant on trees to grow the apples it needs to produce its ciders, it has over 500 acres of its own orchard in Somerset.
