Sirane expands plastic-replacement capacity as environmental sustainability demands grow
17 Feb 2022 --- Sirane has made a multi-million dollar investment in a new facility for its innovative board division. The new site, just a few miles away from its HQ in Shropshire, UK, will allow the company to invest further in environmentally sustainable packaging technologies.
The site will add around 12,000 sqm of manufacturing space. The exact investment amount has not been disclosed. Machinery and materials are already on their way to the new site, and small-scale manufacturing should begin before the end of the month, with full-scale manufacturing scheduled to start before Easter.
Speaking to PackagingInsights, Simon Balderson, Sirane’s managing director, says: “In recent years, the drive for genuinely [environmentally] sustainable packaging solutions has continued to gather pace.”
Sirane has been specializing on creating grease barriers for paper-based packaging.“Long-term, this desire to become more environmentally sustainable is not going anywhere. The demand we’re seeing is global – people want change. The only difference is local attitudes to what’s acceptable. In some parts of the world, recyclable is what’s wanted; in others, it’s compostable. Board-based packaging and paper-based packaging are often in the unique position of fulfilling both of these criteria.”
“The market is looking for answers and looking to companies like Sirane to provide them. The market itself is still being driven by consumers’ changing attitudes to packaging, and this has driven change.”
Plastic replacement tech
In recent years, a lot of Sirane’s development work has been in paper and board and finding ways to turn these materials into packaging that has the necessary barrier for grease and moisture resistance, explains the company’s marketing manager Mark Lingard.
“A lot of our solutions use coatings, so the investment includes technology to allow us to coat as well as the space to do it, as these machines tend to be quite large. Plastic replacement is not always possible, but there are many places in the supply chain where it can be, and we are finding that there are many companies who do want plastic-free packaging.”
“Of course, the more we can invest and produce, the more cost-effective the packaging becomes, and the easier it becomes for people to make the change.”
Sirane’s site in the Czech Republic.Balderson says the company’s aim is “fairly simple” – “if we can provide an environmentally sustainable packaging solution, we will, and we’re prepared to invest both time and money in helping companies achieve their goals as well as ours.”
“There is never going to be a time when there is no plastic in the supply chain, it’s just not possible, but we’d like to help companies that do want to reduce the amount they use to do so.”
Landmark in Sirane’s history
Balderson describes the investment as “a hugely significant expansion in the history of Sirane. We needed additional manufacturing space to enable us to continue being at the forefront of packaging innovation.”
“The facility will also give us space to expand our co-packing and fulfillment business, an area which has seen significant growth in the last few years.”
This year, the company opened a new manufacturing site in the Czech Republic to answer growing consumer demand in Central and Eastern Europe. With the new site launching this month, the company is planning to manufacture an increasing amount of its products for this region in the Czech Republic.
Sirane already operates two manufacturing sites in Telford, UK, one with around 30,000 sqm of manufacturing space and a second 10,000 sqm – housing the company’s absorbency and flexible packaging operations.
By Louis Gore-Langton
