Nice-Pak outlines plastic-free position to the trade

8.11.2021

Dear Daniel,

I read your Daily Bread on 2^nd November, “Plastic-free wet wipes are a no-brainer”, following the Bill proposed by Fleur Anderson, MP and would like to offer an industry perspective.

As the leading producer of wet wipes to the UK market for global brands and leading retailers, I’d like to assure you and your readers about the significant steps we have already made to move towards a future of plastic-free wipes.

The COVID pandemic reminded all of us of the need for effective hygiene. Wipes play an important role in maintaining consumer health and wellbeing both in the home and in healthcare settings. The challenge has always been to provide sustainable solutions, which still meet the quality, safety & performance standards required by consumers, including newborn babies.

For several years, Nice-Pak as a premium, innovative supplier has been working behind-the-scenes to offer a range of plastic-free, environmentally sustainable wipes through strong partnerships with both suppliers & customers. We introduced our global sustainability pledges to drive change across our products, brands and packaging.

As a result, we have successfully reduced the amount of plastic used in wipes. For example, we’ve helped a leading UK retailer to remove plastic from their core range of baby wipes, saving over 3,600 tonnes of plastic. Through partnerships such as these, we’ve increased the proportion of business accounted by non-plastic wipes, from 9% in 2018, to over 60% this year. Over 250 million packs of wipes have successfully become plastic-free. What’s more, we anticipate around 80-90% of the wipes we supply to the UK market will be plastic free by the end of 2022.

We don’t believe the story stops with the wipes themselves: we have developed recyclable packaging solutions and conduct our business in an ethical and sustainable way – with accreditations from a range of objective third-party auditing associations, such as SEDEX, Ecovadis, ISO 50001 and the Carbon Disclosure Project.

You’re correct to highlight the problem of irresponsible product disposal, and we need to understand the difference between flushable and non-flushable wipes.

All of Nice-Pak’s range of flushable wipes are already plastic-free, and we were the first manufacturer to be assigned a universal ‘Fine to Flush’ accreditation, meeting standards set by the water industry. For non-flushable wipes, Nice-Pak consistently & clearly uses the ‘Do Not Flush’ logo on the front of each pack, as endorsed by our trade association.

We all want to maintain high levels of health & hygiene; the key is achieving this through expertise to deliver plastic-free wipes. Nice-Pak is on board and driving at full speed to a plastic-free future – and we welcome retailers, brand-owners and MPs on the journey!

Sincerely,

Rob Woodall

Managing Director