Eco Flexibles wins sustainability award

Eco Flexibles has secured the silver award for Sustainable Investment Project of the Year at the Environmental Packaging Awards 2025, held at London's Kia Oval.

The sustainability-focused flexible packaging specialist received the recognition for its investment in a purpose-built, 40,000 sqft production facility in Northampton. The large-scale project has been positioned as redefining possibilities for sustainability-focused flexible packaging manufacturing in the UK.

'Winning this award is a huge honor for our team and a powerful endorsement of what we set out to achieve – proving that flexible packaging can be both genuinely recyclable and commercially viable,' said Simon Buswell, director at Eco Flexibles. 'Our goal has always been to simplify the switch to circular packaging formats without compromise, and this recognition reinforces that our model is working perfectly.'

According to the company, the Northampton supersite represents the UK's only integrated manufacturing facility capable of designing and producing recyclable water-based printed monopolymer and paper pouch packaging in-house. Central to the site's capabilities is its twin installation of the Fujifilm Jet Press FP790, described as a world-first outside Japan.

The digital inkjet technology uses water-based printing to eliminate VOCs and dramatically reduce waste compared to traditional analog methods. Eco Flexibles installed a second Jet Press within 12 months to meet increasing demand from brands seeking circular packaging alternatives to mixed material packaging.

The investment encompasses solventless lamination and high-speed pouch conversion lines, providing the company with complete end-to-end control over quality, sustainability and speed to market. The Environmental Packaging Awards recognized the company's significant investment, measurable environmental outcomes and scalability potential.

'This isn't just a win for Eco Flexibles,' Buswell added. 'It shows the big shift happening in packaging - where sustainability is no longer an aspiration, but an operational standard. We set out to remove the complexity around recyclable flexible packaging, and this recognition shows we're delivering on that promise.'

The director emphasized the role of the company's workforce in achieving this recognition. 'Our growing team has been at the heart of that journey. Their energy, expertise and commitment have driven everything we've built – from developing new processes to supporting our customers through the switch to circular formats. The team is one of our company's biggest strengths; this win belongs to every one of them.'