Available as of June, the printable range of products has been designed to replace similar plastic products currently in use. The Vita range includes mailing bags, cushion bags, slim-line boxes, corrugated envelopes and expandable mailing pockets.
Blake said the range is intended to help eliminate the use of plastic and reduce excess packaging in e-commerce.
“This complete range of products was developed to meet a specific need,” said Blake director Tim Browning. “Each one represents a paper alternative to something that would traditionally have used a plastic solution, but also in line with this, many of the products help to solve the problem of overpacking in the e-commerce fulfilment field.
“There is a tremendous amount in the press and on social media about small items being delivered in huge boxes full of packing materials. Many of the Vita products reduce this to an item that can actually be posted through someone's letterbox.
“There is a huge amount of awareness of the ecological damage that is being caused from the overuse of plastics and how these have become a source of pollution in the eco-systems globally. There has been a huge amount of interest from the marketplace. It is clear these products are fulfilling a real need.”
Browning pointed to the eco cushion strand of Vita as being able to replace the traditional bubble mailer which cannot be recycled because it includes both plastic and paper.
Through 2019, Blake is continuing its focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), having established the Blake Foundation to further its partnership with the School in a Bag initiative to provide learning materials to disadvantaged children around the world.
At the end of the year, the initiative will be distributing its signature school bags to children in the Gambia.
Blake, with £25m turnover and 76 staff around the globe, invested at the start of the year in a £2.7m, 2,790sqm factory near its Yeovil headquarters in order to reshore its production ahead of Brexit. It will run 30 production machines covering digital and litho print, and finishing.
