Bradford, UK-based 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.
Left to Right: Ashley Butterfield (Paragon Bank), Andrew Eastham (Cartonage), Kyle Johnson (Paragon Bank) and Andrew Clews (Local Renewable Services).
Andrew Eastham, who is a Director of both Cartonage and Adwalton Holdings, 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.
The company 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.”
