Scots packaging firm's customers demand greener products

Macfarlane Group's protective packaging distribution operation serves 20,000 UK businesses

The UK's biggest protective packaging distributor is seeing increasing requests from customers wanting to cut carbon.

Macfarlane Group boss Peter Atkinson said there there was rising demand for reusable food labels, and firms wanting to use more recyclable packaging.

His comments came as US retail giant Amazon has been criticised by customers for increasing its use of plastic.

Glasgow-based Macfarlane has increased sales, despite industry challenges.

Its sales grew 5.4% to £107.5m in the first half of the year, with pre-tax profits at £3.8m.

Becoming greener

But Mr Atkinson said the high street shopping downturn had continued to cause issues for the packaging industry.

He also said there were issues in the automotive sector, which he said were "particularly related to Brexit".

Mr Atkinson added: "We're even seeing some beginnings of some weakness in some e-commerce sectors as well."

Macfarlane's packaging distribution operation serves more than 20,000 businesses across the UK, and Mr Atkinson said many were now focussing on becoming greener.

He said: "Food waste is a big part of the environmental challenge, and the benefit of the re-sealable label is that it keeps food fresher for longer, hence people are moving into that product in droves."

Mr Atkinson added: "People are realising they need to use the right amount of packaging, made from the right materials and the right design, to ensure their products are protected properly - because badly protected products case an ever bigger environmental problem.

US online retailer Amazon has been criticised by customers over its increasing use of plastic packaging

"At the same time, they're ensuring they're using materials that are recyclable, to avoid waste.

"We are independent of manufacturing, so we can personalise our offer to each customer, based on their recyclability needs."

Meanwhile, Mr Atkinson also told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that planning was continuing for potential disruption if the UK leaves the EU in October without a trade deal.

"We're working with our customers to understand the challenges they have in their supply - building strategic stocks for them where we need to to help them out, and our suppliers are backing us up with strategic stock-building as well," he said.

"Fortunately only 10% of the supplies we bring in come from European suppliers.

"While we're not saying Brexit's gong to be easy for us, I think we're managing it pretty well."

Follow BBC presenter Andrew Black's business updates each weekday morning on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme between 0600 and 0900.