A4 Labels announces Portslade Cricket Club sponsorship for 2026

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Fishersgate, West Sussex based label manufacturer A4 Labels has confirmed it will continue its partnership with Portslade Cricket Club, renewing its sponsorship for the 2026 season after a highly successful first year that combined grassroots sport with meaningful environmental impact.

Following the success of last season’s initiative, A4 Labels will work with environmental charity Seven Clean Seas, funding the removal of ocean plastic based on the club’s on-field performance. For every 20 runs scored by Portslade Cricket Club during the 2025 season, 1 kg of ocean plastic will be removed.

The renewed partnership builds on an impressive set of results already achieved in 2025:

• 409 kg of plastic removed – equivalent to 2621 cricket balls or the weight of an adult polar bear.

• 4396 metres of coastline cleaned – roughly 50 football pitches laid end to end.

• Four clean up crew members funded, providing 62 hours of fair wage employment.

• Over 2.25 tonnes of plastic collected in total by A4 Labels since January 2025 – approximately the weight of 20 adults.

‘We wanted to bring something different to a traditional sponsorship,’ said Charlie Hawker, managing director of A4 Labels. ‘Supporting Portslade Cricket Club meant we could back a fantastic local team while making a measurable difference to our oceans. Every boundary hit took us one step closer to a cleaner planet.

‘This charity is especially important to us as a coastal company. We see first hand the effects of sea and beach pollution, particularly during Brighton and Hove’s busy summer months, and we want to play our part in protecting our shores.’

The initiative is set to add a fresh and motivating dimension to the cricket season, giving players and supporters an extra reason to celebrate every run scored and demonstrating how local sport can drive global impact.

A spokesperson from Portslade Cricket Club said, ‘A4 Labels’ sponsorship has been very welcomed, and knowing that we are helping to remove plastic waste from our oceans has been an added incentive to score runs. Thank you to a fantastic company.’

Oli Kade from Seven Clean Seas added, ‘This is one of the most creative partnerships we have launched to date. To create real change, sustainability needs to be embedded in everything we do, and I can’t think of a better way to do this than through the love of sport. Every minute, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters our oceans. A4 Labels and Portslade Cricket Club are helping to raise awareness by linking cricket with ocean plastic recovery.’

Founded in 2010 by Colin Hawker after spotting the potential of a single discarded sheet of labels, A4 Labels has grown from a Sussex side hustle into a globally recognised manufacturer. Now led by Colin’s son Charlie Hawker, still in his early 20s, the business supplies high quality labels to household names including Lush, The Card Factory, Nando’s, Warner Brothers and Five Guys, as well as artisan producers across the UK.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, A4 Labels produced around four million sheets of labels each week for UK test kit distribution. Under Charlie’s leadership, the company continues to bring modern creativity and strong community values to a sector often overlooked, donating 1% of all sales to Seven Clean Seas as part of its long term ‘Eco-Pledge’.

‘The charity work was one of the first things I wanted to introduce in the transition period of Colin taking a step back from the company, alongside A4Rewards. This started with 1% of plastic sales going to The Ocean Cleanup Project and 1% of paper sales going to One Tree Planted. This was all part of ‘A4ProjectEco’ where we became FSC accredited and introduced new biodegradable materials. We planted well over 1000 trees across nearly 20 different countries and regions. This included a scheme called ‘Green Football Weekend’ where we partnered with as many Sussex football clubs as possible and planted a tree for every goal scored on the weekend in February 2024,’ Charlie said.