Industry News


VPK Group NV and Encase reach acquisition agreement


V


PK Group has recently come to an agreement with COPI Holding to buy Encase Ltd, manufacturer and


designer of corrugated cardboard packaging. Encase Ltd operates two integrated corrugated packaging plants in England and one sheet plant in Scotland. It is VPK’s intention to merge Encase with its UK corrugated operations, formerly known as Rigid. VPK’s corrugated operations in UK


and Ireland, formerly known as Rigid Containers and recently rebranded as VPK Packaging, experienced impressive and consistent yearly growth since it entered the VPK


Group in 2000. Under its ownership, VPK invested more than £100 million into the division. Desborough was transformed into the UK flagship site, whereas greenfield sites in Wellington and Selby gradually increased capacity to fully mirror operations on all three sites. In 2015, the acquisition of ICS


Europaks in Limerick, Ireland, further strengthened the geographical spread. With a strong focus on high quality printing capacities, the UK and Ireland divisions enjoy a solid reputation with high service requirement customers. Earlier this year, VPK acquired a majority stake in Corrboard UK Ltd, a leading supplier of corrugated cardboard


sheets located in Scunthorpe, operating a 320,000 sq ft modern factory and equipped with a new fast order-change Fosber 2.80m corrugator, using a CO2 neutral production process. As part of its long-term strategy,


it is now VPK’s intention to fully merge Encase with the existing VPK UK corrugated operations. The combined businesses are expected to achieve yearly sales of more than 200 million GBP in corrugated packaging and sheets. All six corrugators combine a yearly containerboard consumption of 300.000 tons, which represents a major part of the non-integrated recycled containerboard


consumption in UK. VPK has a track record of


successful investments and acquisitions in corrugated manufacturing assets. These include four sheet feeding plants in Poland and Germany – known under the brand name Aquila, an ultra-modern greenfield investment project in Halden (Norway) which was recently put into operation and the acquisition of Viallon Emballages in France. With regards to containerboard production, the pioneering conversion in Strasbourg, France, of the former UPM Stracel assets by Blue Paper, set a new standard for the recycled containerboard industry.


Bacardi plans to switch to 100% biopolymer bottles by 2023


Bacardi is not the first alcohol brand trying to find more sustainable packaging solutions for its spirits. It is, however, the first to target polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The company plans to have its 100% biopolymer bottles on shelves by 2023. This will replace 3,000 tons


2 Green Packaging International ● Winter 2020


of conventional plastic every year or around 80 million plastic bottles. PHAs are higher-cost than incumbent plastics and are not accepted in current recycling streams, but Bacardi is prioritising fossil-free carbon inputs and is betting that the demand for plastic alternatives and


the ability to market new materials outweigh such drawbacks. For a truly circular solution,


however, Bacardi must work with recycling and composting facilities to makes sure its products are not filtered out. While a regular plastic bottle


takes over four hundred years to decompose, the new spirits bottle made from Nodax™ PHA will biodegrade in a wide range of environments, including compost, soil, fresh and sea water, and after 18 months disappear without leaving behind any harmful microplastics.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28