GLASGOW-based Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging has confirmed major investment plans which the business said will make it one of the world’s largest fibre packaging manufacturers.
Cullen is spending £15 million on a new innovation and design hub, as well as an additional factory to meet ‘soaring’ global demand for its moulded fibre and corrugated cardboard solutions.
The business is also set to create more than 120 new jobs in its Glasgow site. Openings range from product design through to engineers and operators of Cullen’s in-house manufactured machines that power its 15 production lines that already produce 470 million pieces per year.
The expanded facility grows the physical site to 14 acres and means Cullen can double its output to more than one billion pieces per year. The solutions include supermarket avocado trays, coffee shop cup carriers, and healthcare products made of moulded fibre created on site, as well as more intricate packaging that protects the likes of fine wines and high-end electrical goods.
Earlier this year the Cullen team developed The Fibre Bottle, which is described as enabling brands producing goods such as vitamins, supplements, dry foods, homecare and horticultural products to remove 270m single-use plastic bottles or pouches from shelves annually.
David MacDonald, owner of Cullen ECO-Friendly Packaging, said, “It’s hugely exciting. The world’s biggest companies, across multiple industries, are looking to moulded fibre to solve many of their sustainability challenges faster than seems possible. To win, they need disruptive thinking – brilliant design and inspired innovation – but they also need those new products made at scale.
“That’s the really hard part but we rise to that seemingly impossible and urgent challenge. Indeed, the expansion further enhances our ability, enabling Cullen to deliver more than one billion compostable and recyclable products per year. That makes us almost unique, globally, at helping to solve the biggest packaging challenges we’ve ever known.
“We have customers in over 34 countries, and our exports have tripled in the last five years. Across the whole business we have grown exponentially and expect that growth to continue at pace. I’m glad to be able to continue to increase game-changing capacity in our Scottish home. We have talent here, an incredible workforce, so are excited to create green careers that people can be truly proud of.”
Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, added, “In our work at A Plastic Planet, we encounter many groundbreaking organisations, but rarely do they have the experience, ambition, talent and innovation of Cullen. They are the real deal; totally focused on the right metrics of success – people and planet before profit. Cullen is a business that has the potential to eliminate billions of pieces of toxic, indestructible plastic and sees no limit to the positive impact they can drive. Ideas are a start, but implementation is everything. Cullen’s ability to scale rapidly and execute a big vision is extremely unusual.”
