Finance package helps packaging business cut energy costs

Bradford-based carton board packaging company, Cartonage, is looking to a greener future with the installation of new solar panels on the roof of its premises financed by Paragon Bank.

The six-figure finance package has been provided Paragon’s SME Lending division to Adwalton Holdings, the owners of Adwalton Business Park, on which Cartonage is located.

The solar panels were supplied by Wetherby-based renewable energy company Local Renewable Services.

Andrew Eastham, who is a director of both the Cartonage and Adwalton Holdings businesses, estimates the solar panels will provide over a quarter of Cartonage’s energy requirements when fully operational.

Cartonage, established in 1995, designs and manufactures cartonboard food sleeves and folding cartons predominantly, for the UK food industry.

The company saw its energy bill triple earlier this year as a result of the increase in prices.

It has invested in a number of key production areas over the last two years to improve efficiency, which has now allowed it to implement measures to address the energy challenge, including condensing 10 shifts a fortnight into nine, helping to reduce energy usage whilst maintaining output.

Eastham said: “We estimate that once the panels are up and running, it will provide around 28% of Cartonage’s electricity needs and we are aiming to get this figure to north of 33%.

“It will make a huge difference to the business and we believe the investment will pay for itself over a four to five year period.

“Our energy consumption was already something we were looking at as part of our focus on ESG, but the events of the past 12 months have sharpened our focus and accelerated our decision to invest in the solar panels.”

He said the company was now examining how to add solar panels on other units on the Adwalton Business Park.

The finance was arranged by Paragon Bank’s SME Lending Business Development Executive Kyle Johnson.

Johnson said: “We are finding more businesses are looking at how they can cut their energy bills and enquiring about solar energy.

“We were pleased to support Adwalton Holdings with this funding, which will benefit the Cartonage business during these challenging times.”

Local Renewable Services chairman, Andrew Clews, added: “We are seeing massive demand for large-scale, reliable Solar PV Arrays and we are supporting businesses to put their energy bills back in the box marked ‘Under Control’.

“Andrew at Cartonage has taken massive steps towards the security of its power supply and stabilise costs in the long term.

“It’s good to go-green, but it is more important to stay in the black! Working with Paragon was seamless, and our customer was able to achieve this with minimum of fuss.”