TELLING PLASTICS TO HOOF IT

AFTeR seeing the Mail’s Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign, David haythornthwaite, chairman of Carr & Day & Martin, which makes products such as fly spray and shampoo for the equine world (and holds a royal warrant to supply saddlery care products to the Queen), decided to lead the way with plastic alternatives in his market.

By switching packaging from plastic to aluminium for all equine spray products, he says the company is now 77 per cent plastic free.

‘I was moved by the images of sea life in distress,’ he says. ‘It’s been a huge investment for us. We employed ten people in research and development to look into packaging alternatives and considered all sorts of different recycled plastics over eight months, until we settled on aluminium.

‘The manufacturing process has demanded upfront costs of more than £300,000 — it’s a major commitment, but we are extremely pleased to be the first player in our sector to be getting away from plastic.’