Amberley Labels and Coveris Boston Help New Wood Take Root in Boston

A group of green-fingered volunteers from local packaging businesses Amberley Labels and Coveris in Boston have planted over 800 trees at Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve following an appeal for help from The Boston Woods Trust.

A group of green-fingered volunteers from local packaging businesses Amberley Labels and Coveris in Boston have planted over 800 trees at Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve following an appeal for help from The Boston Woods Trust.

The trust, which is developing several woods and parklands in the area, had put out a plea for community support to plant 16,500 native standard trees over a three-week period.

Site manager at Amberley Labels, David Willis, explained: “Coveris is committed to reducing waste in line with its ambitious No Waste sustainability strategy, so when we heard about The Boston Woods project, we were keen to get involved.

Coveris, which owns Amberley Labels, has established volunteer Green Teams at each of its 30 print and packaging sites across Europe. The group of 15 volunteers were made up of staff and their families who were all keen to help as part of Coveris’ Green Team initiative.

David continued, saying: “It’s a fantastic project as planting trees has a positive impact on the environment by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and providing habitats for wildlife. It also benefits the local community by providing much-needed green spaces. We put up posters around our two sites in Boston encouraging employees and their families to take a couple of hours out of their Sunday and were delighted with the response. Our volunteers managed to plant over 500 trees on Sunday 27th November and 300 the following week which was an amazing achievement and one we’re very proud of!”.

Steve Elwood from The Boston Woods Trust said: “Thank you to everyone who helped by planting trees to establish Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve. It was the largest volunteer planting event this year in Lincolnshire – over three weeks 16,500 trees have been planted. This could not have been accomplished without the hard work of our dedicated volunteers. Alongside help from members of the public we were joined by the team from Amberley Labels and Coveris, members of the allotment group and pupils and staff from the Voyage Education Partnership. Also, thanks to the People’s Postcode Lottery who supported our planting season this year – we are so grateful for all the help we’ve received."

The new reserve near the town’s Pilgrim Hospital is the third stage of The Boston Woods project and is not yet open to the public. Once it is complete, visitors will be able to enjoy nearly 35 acres of woodland and wild flower meadows with a lake. Other developments include Westgate, Jenny’s and Oak Woods at Sir Joseph Banks Country Park and Beech Wood and Grange Wood at Fenside Woods.

As well as Green Teams made up of volunteers from all areas of the business, Coveris also organises its own annual No Waste Week. In 2022 Coveris ran more than 80 projects across the UK and Europe focusing on the reduction of energy consumption, such as re-using heat generated during production to warm sites and the inspection of utilities to find new ways to save water and electricity. Some sites have also engaged in local community activities such as school garden refurbishments, waste sorting and collections, and site cleanings.

To find out more about Coveris’ No Waste strategy, please visit coveris.com/sustainability