From Compliance to Conservation: Tradeprint's Commitment to Scotland's Rivers

 A closer look at our own paperwork led us to one of the most meaningful environmental contributions in our history. This is the story of how it happened and what comes next.

Getting Our House in Order

Earlier this year, we took a closer look at how well we were keeping on top of our packaging paperwork. We weren't sure we had everything quite right, so we picked up the phone to the Environment Agency to ask, and to be upfront about anything we'd missed.

They were genuinely helpful about it. Rather than any kind of penalty, they suggested we put something back by supporting an environmental charity doing work we could really stand behind. We chose the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s-led Riverwoods initiative, which is helping restore river woodland across Scotland.

That conversation also gave us the nudge to properly partner with Valpak, who help businesses like ours stay on top of packaging rules. Between the two, we're now in a good place with the new recycling rules that came in this year.

Scotland's Rivers: The Scale of the Problem

For centuries, Scotland's rivers have been stripped of the tree cover that once sustained entire ecosystems. Without riverside woodland, water temperatures rise, riverbanks erode, and the species that depend on healthy rivers struggle to survive. Atlantic salmon, freshwater pearl mussels, otters and brown trout have all declined significantly as a result.

A survey found that only 13% of Scotland's riverside habitats are currently in good condition. The remaining 87% are degraded, with little or no tree cover. Across 125,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, that is a substantial problem.

The Riverwoods initiative exists to address it. By restoring riverside woodland, the programme improves water quality, keeps rivers cooler, stabilises riverbanks, stores carbon and creates the habitat conditions that wildlife needs to recover.

The Riverwoods Appeal's Progress

The Riverwoods Blueprint Project, supported by £1.83 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is now underway. Three partner organisations in the Spey, Tweed and Kyle of Sutherland catchments are working to create and restore at least 150 hectares of river woodland, with 110,000 trees to be planted across demonstration sites that will serve as a blueprint for future restoration work across Scotland.

In the Tweed catchment specifically, Tweed Forum is leading restoration work along one of Scotland's most celebrated rivers. The Tweed is renowned for its Atlantic salmon runs and its biodiversity, and it sits on our doorstep as a Scottish-based business. The work being done there will have tangible, lasting benefits for the landscape we operate in.

Kicking Off Our FY27 Sustainability Strategy

This summer our leadership team swapped the boardroom for a riverbank. We spent the day in the Tweed Valley with Ben from Tweed Forum, walking stretches of the catchment where decades of restoration work are visibly paying off: re-meandered river channels, new native tree planting along the banks, and log jams put back in to slow the water down and create habitat.

It was a genuinely hands-on look at what this kind of work involves on the ground, and it felt like the right way to kick off Tradeprint's FY27 Sustainability Strategy. As a manufacturer, it's easy to let sustainability become a set of certificates and a line in a tender response. Standing in a river that's been quietly restored over decades by people like Ben and the team at Tweed Forum was a good reminder that this only matters if it's real, long-term and measured in outcomes, not intentions.

It also set the tone we want to carry through the rest of the strategy: get out from behind the desk, see the impact of our support first-hand, and build our FY27 priorities around work we've genuinely seen make a difference.

How Our Support Will Be Put to Use

The Riverwoods initiative turns support into specific, measurable action on the ground. Our contribution helps fund native saplings and planting materials, deer fencing to protect young trees as they establish, and the tools and protective equipment that volunteers and conservation workers need to do the job safely.

Beyond the immediate planting, restored riverbank woodland supports natural flood management, reduces pollution entering the water, maintains soil moisture during dry periods and boosts pollinator populations in the surrounding landscape. These are long-term benefits, and they compound over time.

Conservation as a Business Value

Tradeprint's Environmental Policy commits us to reducing our impact and operating with consideration for the communities and environments around us. Supporting the Riverwoods initiative is consistent with that policy, but it also goes beyond it.

We are a Scottish business. The River Tweed runs through a landscape that many of our people know well. The species being protected by this work- the salmon, the pearl mussel, the otter- are part of a shared natural heritage. Contributing to their recovery matters to us for reasons that sit outside any compliance framework.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's approach to conservation is practical and evidence-led. They work with landowners, communities and catchment organisations to deliver change at scale. That ethos resonates with how we try to operate: clear about the problem, direct about the solution, measured on the outcomes.

What We Would Say to Other Businesses

The rules around packaging have changed for everyone this year, and plenty of businesses are still working out what that means for them. If you're in a similar position, unsure exactly what's expected of you, our experience was that picking up the phone to the Environment Agency early, before it became a bigger issue, was both the right thing to do and the easier route. They want businesses to get it right, not to catch them out.

If you're not sure where you stand, a specialist partner like Valpak can help you get your paperwork in order. The sooner you look into it, the more comfortable you'll feel as the rules continue to develop.

A Starting Point

Supporting Riverwoods is something we're proud of. Knowing it's going into the ground, in the form of native trees along the banks of the Tweed, makes it feel real in a way that other forms of environmental effort sometimes do not.

We will continue to report on our progress against the new packaging rules and our wider environmental commitments. And we hope to build on our relationship with the Scottish Wildlife Trust as our sustainability programme develops.

Support Riverwoods

Read our full Environmental Policy