BPIF Praises Benson Group as World's First Company to Gain Independent Certification for the BPIF ISO12647-2 Certification Scheme

BARDON, England, October 18, 2010 - The BPIF has offered its congratulations to Benson Group on becoming the
world's first food packaging (www.bensongroup.co.uk/food/) company to
gain certification under the BPIF ISO12647-2 Scheme.

The BPIF is leading the development of a UK Certification scheme for
ISO12647-2, knowing that as in earlier Quality and Environmental Standards,
buyers will expect auditing and certification from UKAS accredited
certification bodies. In response to such customer demands, a growing number
of UK printing companies are working to this standard, but at present they
cannot gain a certificate from a certification body accredited by UKAS
(United Kingdom Accreditation Service) to evidence this. For this reason the
BPIF engaged UKAS in discussions last year and at the same time set up a
Working Group to develop scheme requirements. This was welcomed by UKAS and
the Scheme requirements document was published in February (available from
the BPIF philip.thompson@bpif.org.uk).

Working to meet the exacting standards of the BPIF Scheme and
anticipating the requirements of UKAS, Benson Group has been certified by
Print and Media Certification Ltd (PMC), the first certification body to
audit against the BPIF Scheme using an approach set by international
certification body standards.

Andrew Brown, Corporate Affairs Director at the BPIF added "We wish to
congratulate Benson Group as the first company to meet the requirements of
the BPIF ISO12647-2 Scheme in what will be a fast growing community of
printers that know that this is the only clear and effective way to
demonstrate not only that they can print to ISO12647-2 but crucially, that
they have the systems in place to sustain that standard, and that it has been
rigorously assessed by an accredited and independent third party."

PMC Director Jon Stack said: "We are delighted to issue the first
certificate for the BPIF ISO12647-2 scheme and to congratulate Benson Group
on their achievement, and welcome the support we have received from BPIF for
our audit scheme. We have developed an audit system for this scheme which is
designed to meet the international standards for certification bodies, and
this is the first time this has been attempted for ISO12647-2, as far as we
know, in the world. The difference to other certifications for ISO12647-2 is
that our approach is one of a third party, completely independent and
impartial, with no conflicts of interest, and the accreditation we will be
seeking from UKAS will demonstrate that this is the case."

Commenting on his company's award, Benson Group Managing Director, Mark
Kerridge said: "We are of course delighted to be the first print-based
business in the world to be awarded an independently assessed ISO12647-2
certification. Whilst the journey has taken us over two years, our team has
learned a great deal about the whole process along the way. We have enjoyed
working with the people from BPIF, and whilst it has been a long and
challenging process, it has been one that has further raised the standards
across our press room. It has provided a positive impact in many different
areas of production, including job make-ready times, reduced wastage,
consistency of colour, reduced press pass time, and an increased confidence
when talking to customers about colour quality issues."

Adding further thoughts from Benson Group, Mike Owens, General Manager,
said: "We have been pleasantly surprised by the impact that it has had on
certain areas of production: for example, we have seen a significant
reduction in waste, which has an obvious environment benefit, as well as
helping us to keep an ever tighter control over production costs. It has also
had a positive impact on the time taken for a customer to approve a job
whilst on press."

About Benson Group

Benson Group is one of the UK's leading privately owned printed carton
suppliers, producing packaging (www.bensongroup.co.uk/index.php)
product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and
retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline,
Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and
leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit:
www.bensongroup.co.uk/bensongroup/group-news-printing-industries-benson-group.php

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
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    Press Information

    Russell J Hicks
    Genesis Marketing Services (Milton Keynes)
    29 Foxholes Close, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire MK19 6HA
    Tel/Fax: +44(0)1908-260-662 Mobile: +44(0)7885-852-428
    e-mail: Russ.Hicks@Genesis-Marketing.com

Press Information: Russell J Hicks, Genesis Marketing Services (Milton Keynes), 29 Foxholes Close, Deanshanger, Northamptonshire MK19 6HA, Tel/Fax: +44(0)1908-260-662 Mobile: +44(0)7885-852-428, e-mail: Russ.Hicks at Genesis-Marketing.com