With 2025 drawing to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on a remarkable year at Parkside. Over the past 12 months we’ve strengthened our expertise across markets and helped our partners to take bold steps toward a more sustainable future for flexible packaging.
We began the year on a high note as Parkside Asia marked its 15th anniversary. Now a thriving autonomous operation, our team in Kuala Lumpur continues to deliver outstanding flexible packaging solutions for food, personal and household care, and tobacco customers across the APAC region. At the same time, our operational teams achieved some fantastic milestones, with over 500 days without a lost-time incident at our Malaysia site and a full year injury-free at Normanton.
Together, these achievements set the tone for a standout year of industry recognition, customer success stories, and sustainable innovation, starting with a series of award wins that showcased just how far our flexible packaging solutions are going to support brands worldwide.
A year of recognition
Innovation has always been at the heart of what we do at Parkside and 2025 made that abundantly clear. Food and Drink Matters magazine named us their Packaging Company of the Year, and at the FlexoTech Awards we took home the ‘Most Environmentally Improved Job’ award for our recyclable paper packaging for Riverford, which proved instrumental in helping the organic veg box company to level up its fresh produce recyclable packaging solution.
On International Coffee Day we also secured a double win at the World Coffee Innovation Awards. Our Recoflex® range was recognised in both the Packaging Innovation and Sustainability Initiative categories, and we took Bronze at the Grocer New Product & Packaging Awards, where our Paper Recyclable Flow Wrap was recognised in the Paper Pack of the Year category.
Alongside these wins we made the final list for several other awards. Two of our employees – New Product Development Technician Kirsty Plovie and Sales Account Manager Staci Bye – were named as finalists at the UK’s Women in Packaging Excellence Awards, and we were shortlisted for the Manufacturing Today Manufacturing Supplier Innovation Awards 2025 in the Most Innovative Provider of Sustainable Materials category.
People Power
Behind every pack is a great team, and 2025 saw our team grow stronger than ever.
Our New Product Development department expanded with the appointment of Georgina Merry as Packaging NPD Manager, while Joe Strathearn joined as Global Sales Director, bringing fresh energy and vision to our global growth strategy. David Henry and Conor Molyneaux came aboard as Sales Account Managers to further strengthen our commercial offering.
Parkside Asia also had plenty to celebrate, marking 15 successful years of flexible packaging excellence. We expanded our regional team with the addition of Wong Li Lian (specialising in Consumer Packaging) and Wang Lu Chay (specialising in Tobacco), who brought over 35 years of combined sales experience to fuel continued growth across the APAC region.
And in a strategic move for our specialist markets, we established a dedicated global tobacco team, led by Laura Haggerty, and supported by Tom Lynch and Lu Chay. Together, they’re already driving exciting new partnerships and packaging advancements in this space.
Backing the next generation
We believe the future of packaging is built on people, and 2025 proved that once again. After partnering with Sheffield Hallam University on its Packaging Design and Technology Course, we recruited graduate Hayden Birkenshaw as a Technical Apprentice. We also welcomed Marvyn Wachira as our first Trainee Sustainability and Quality Coordinator, a new role designed to align packaging quality and performance with our ambitious environmental targets. Together, these two are bringing fresh creativity and purpose to our innovation and ESG ambitions.
We took part in the Young People in Print initiative and celebrated International Print Day in October by welcoming students from Sheffield Hallam to share what a career in packaging looks like. The visitors were given a tour of our factory and New Product Development lab and took part in a challenge to redesign their own favourite food or product packaging. Hayden gave a talk to his fellow students about his experience with Parkside and shared what he is working on in his current role.
Collaborating for a more sustainable future
Partnership has always been key to our success and 2025 was no different with several collaborations helping us drive innovation and sustainability in flexible packaging. We joined forces with sealing specialists ProSeal at Fruit Logistica, showcasing our newest lidding films designed for fresh produce, meat and dairy.
We partnered with premium snack producer Lama to develop a certified home compostable flexible pack for its Datekin Sukkari dates. This new pack is designed to break down in 26 weeks in domestic compost heaps thanks to our Park2Nature™ material, leaving behind nothing but nature itself.
2025 also saw us work with vegan nutrition brand Vegums on a new flexible pouch for its multivitamin gummies. Our TÜV-certified compostable solution has helped Vegums to make significant cuts to its packaging material use, replacing its previous rigid solution to minimise weight and associated carbon emissions. The paper pouch was a true cradle-to-cradle solution that upholds high protection thanks to the use of innovative water-based barrier coatings, marking us out as a leading supplier to the nutrition market.
Supporting our communities
Community spirit has always been part of who we are. In 2025, we raised over £500 for Trinity Mission, supporting vulnerable people in our local area. Meanwhile, our Graphic Services Manager, Tom Lynch, completed the Manchester Half Marathon, raising £720 for the MS Society – an achievement we’re all immensely proud of.
We also continued donating to local organisations that help young people thrive, reflecting our commitment to a meaningful ESG strategy that starts at home.
Learn more about our impact here.
Looking ahead
If 2025 was about building momentum, 2026 will be about taking it even further. From expanding our sustainable packaging ranges to investing in the people and partnerships that power our progress, we’re more excited than ever for what’s to come.
To find out how we can help you achieve your packaging goals next year, get in touch with the team.
