Practising what we preach: 5 steps we’ve taken to reduce our environmental impact

At Priory Direct, our mission that governs everything we do is clear: to support retailers to minimise the environmental impact of ecommerce. By 2027, ecommerce packaging waste is projected to reach 3.12 million tonnes, the weight of more than 252,000 London double decker buses. That’s a huge mountain of material and we’re working hard to try and reduce it.

We do this by raising awareness of best practice when it comes to packaging and logistics, providing access to great sustainable packaging choices, and by embracing sustainability within our own business. As a certified B Corporation, we have committed to being transparent and accountable for our social and environmental impact and to never stop making improvements wherever we can.

We frequently focus on our own supply chain and how we ship our orders. Sending bulky packaging requires robust wrapping, often resulting in avoidable waste. By switching to sustainable alternatives, we’ve removed more than 170,000 metres of plastic tape and strapping from our own supply chain.

Here is how we made our latest improvements in five steps.

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Step 1: Eliminate plastic from sealing and securing

To keep bulky deliveries safe, we need to strap them together with a sturdy material to keep items from shifting around or getting damaged on the move. Previously, we used plastic strapping, but through experimenting we have managed to switch to using 100% recyclable paper strapping. We’ve also replaced all conventional plastic tapes in our operation - used for securely sealing boxes and other packages - with gummed paper tapes that use a natural, starch-based adhesive.

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Step 2: Replace layflat tubing

As the name suggests, layflat tubing is a roll of flattened plastic that can be cut to the required length to create custom-sized bags that are sealed at both ends. They keep items clean and dry. We have replaced layflat tubing in our supply chain with a combination of sustainable packing paper and water-activated tape to achieve the same goal but in a more planet-friendly way.

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Step 3: Replace single-use plastic packaging

For sending out samples and smaller orders we used to rely on single-use LDPE plastic bags, polymailers - the ones frequently used by online retailers - which are harmful to the environment and not widely recycled. Instead, we introduced paper mailing bags and book wraps. These minimise wasted space but - most importantly - eliminate single-use plastic.

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Step 4: Plastic-free labels

We removed all shrink wrap from our label lines, which was a major undertaking. Shrink wrap helps to make labels clearer and more durable, among other advantages. Moving away from this required significant change to our stock model and many rounds of testing. This process took around 18 months to guarantee product performance and longevity, and we had to adapt some key elements of our manufacturing and logistics approaches to serve the high volume and variety of labels we supply. However, we’re now proud to be shipping millions of labels to the UK market that are fully plastic-free.

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Step 5: Minimising plastic wrap

While we cannot entirely remove pallet wrap from our supply chain for reasons of safety - currently there is no sustainable alternative that is robust enough - we are committed to being best-in-class in its use. We’ve moved from using wrap made of 30% recycled content up to 51%. We’ve also switched to a 250% pre-stretch, allowing us to maximise coverage with the least possible amount of material.

In total, these five changes have amounted to removing 170,180 metres of plastic tape, wrap, and strapping from our operations.

Our Head of Operations, Darren Goodbody, has been instrumental in these changes and is always looking out for other opportunities to reduce our environmental impact.

For example, Darren has replaced plastic wallets (used for delivery notes) to paper document wallets, and implemented shredding cardboard waste from our operation to use as protection and as a ‘space filler’ for unavoidable space in a package. We have also added this material to our product line, creating a new income stream.

In addition, Priory Direct now ships most deliveries in used cardboard boxes, saving us approximately £90,000 per year on packaging costs, and we’ve launched a used cardboard box range for our customers, creating another new income stream.

The benefits:

The most important benefit of these changes is reducing our impact on the environment, which supports our underlying mission.

We’re also demonstrating how to implement sustainable packaging initiatives by practising what we preach - and we hope other companies will follow our lead, making small changes wherever possible, and not just related to packaging. Being more sustainable often comes with an extra incentive: cost savings and sometimes additional income streams, which is something to celebrate.

Darren explains: “This is because we are either reducing the volume of material we need or finding new uses for products in the spirit of circularity. Reusing or finding new uses for ‘waste’ materials also cuts down on the cost of waste disposal.”

The key takeaways

To achieve similar success, your business should:

Focus on sustainability: make it a core priority, not an afterthought.
Embrace innovation: look for commercially viable, creative solutions.
Collaborate: involve your whole team and work together to find new sustainable ideas.
Break it down: take it one step at a time. Every long journey is a series of steps and it's easier to maintain momentum and motivation with little wins rather than shooting for the end position right away.
Think circularly: look for ways to reduce costs or even increase income through waste reduction and reuse.

Our MD, Josh Pitman, concludes: "When we set our mission as ‘minimising the impact of ecommerce on the planet’, we knew the best place to start was with a commitment to improving our own operation. This has driven lots of learning, introduced some great new products, and really brought our team and customers along through the process.”

I'm a big believer in practicing what we preach and also in being open and honest about the challenges we face and the steps we're all taking. As businesses we have to share our challenges and triumphs along the way to build momentum and help others navigate pitfalls and emulate successes. Organisations can really differentiate themselves, make a difference and - at the same time - build a successful tribe of loyal customers who are aligned with doing the right thing!

“We're not perfect, there's still some plastic in our operation in pallet wrap, but it has as much recycled material as we could manage without compromising safety, and we are continuously looking for other ways to improve what we do."