Lesters has invested more than £100,000 into creating its dedicated ‘Recycle’ offering that sells used cardboard boxes to existing and new clients looking for a greener and more cost-effective way of transporting their products.
The Burntwood-based company, which now employs 60 people after a recent recruitment drive, is already working with customers in the home and commercial removals and manufacturing sectors and expects sales to double in this area to more than £500,000 over the next twelve months.
Bosses at the family-run firm believe an increasing number of companies will tap into the sustainable benefits of reusing high quality boxes for moving their goods, with the cost of each box typically 50% less than buying a brand new one. There is also a host of environmental benefits attached to this approach and these can be factored into a business’ commitment to becoming Carbon Neutral or Carbon Negative.
“The circular economy is big news and we’re bringing it into the world of cardboard boxes,” explained Richard Shorthouse, who joined Lesters as Business Development Manager in September this year. “There has always been a market for reusable cardboard boxes and the sustainability credentials of this alternative packaging solution promotes the trend for reuse as well as recycle.
“This is where our ‘Recycle’ offer comes in. Our aim is to provide a huge stock of used boxes in a wide range of sizes and across a variety of board grades. These will be available at a significantly reduced cost and will also come with the ‘green’ benefit of knowing you are contributing to the recycling efforts of our sector. Better still, corrugated boxes can be difficult and costly to get rid of, so Lesters are turning it on its head and saying they could actually become a revenue stream for your business.”
Interest in this latest offer from Lesters has surpassed initial expectations and the company is now actively looking to buy back boxes it has sold whilst also purchasing used boxes manufactured by other firms. A new marketing and social media campaign is being launched to raise awareness and educate other businesses on the benefits of looking at alternative packaging options.
Richard continued: “The clients we are looking at can span any sector but tend to be those interested in boxes that can be manually handled. Each new enquiry will be sent samples to trial and make sure they are suitable and, if they are happy, they are provided with reused packaging that is of a high quality and extremely reliable.”
It has been a whirlwind period for Lesters over the last two years, with fifteen staff taken on across production and in admin/support, whilst a second shift has been introduced to keep up with demand. This has helped support the design and manufacture of a growing range of products, including octabins, pallet boxes, heavy duty packaging, bespoke die cut units, corrugated cartons, and retail ready packaging. The ‘large packaging’ specialist is also keen to innovate the materials it uses, as well as looking for new applications outside the world of packaging.
