Packaging company invests £2.7m to boost production

A £2.7m investment by packaging supplier Greiner will allow it to install a line for recycled dairy packaging to produce products such as creams, yoghurts and desserts from post-consumer plastic waste.

The money will allow Greiner packaging to increase its sales by £2.5m in 2011 at its Northern-Ireland based factory.

Jarek Zasadzinski, Greiner Packaging CEO Zasadzinski said that the new line enabled the company to respond to demand for recyclable products and enhanced Greiner’s ability to compete in export markets, as well as creating 12 new jobs in the region.

Zasadzinski said the company also plans to install three additional lines, all of which will be in operation by February 2011.

Dungannon-based Greiner Packaging (GPUK) is part of privately owned Austria-based Greiner Packaging International and manufactures plastic packaging products for the dairy, food, and beverage sectors.

Recycled dairy packaging

The CEO said the new dairy packaging is partially produced from post consumer waste, in this case PET bottles, which are collected at curb side bins and then cleaned and reprocessed.

The shredded flakes from bottles are then reprocessed into new packaging at the plant.

“This allows us to reduce significantly CO2 as well as close the recycling loop. Thanks to this operation we divert from landfill nearly 4000 tonnes of PET per year, which is a major achievement in our industry,” he added.

CO2 reduction

The money will also be invested into integrated wind propelled technology which, according to GPUK balances the heating and cooling elements in its production process and allows utilisation of waste heat energy.

As a result, the firm said it is benefitting from a reduction in water consumption of 6m cubic meters and reduce its energy operating costs by 50 per cent each year.

Zasadzinski said: “The development and integration of energy efficiency measures is an important part of our sustainable development programme as well as CO2 reduction. With Invest NI’s support we are currently on track to meet our target of reducing operating costs by nearly £1,000,000 per year.”

The company’s main market is UK mainland and The Republic of Ireland (ROI). However, Zasadzinski said the firm is already exporting to France and has projects in development for further afield.

Over £340,000 of the money has been contributed by Invest Northern Ireland (NI), Northern Ireland’s economic development agency, and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Source: Greiner packaging