Packaging technology firm Pulpex has begun operating its first industrial plant at Westway, near Glasgow, moving its fibre-based bottle technology from pilot production into wider-scale manufacturing.
The facility has been configured to produce as many as 40 million units annually and employs roughly 39 specialised factory staff.
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Pulpex intends to use the Scottish site as an operational model for a broader licensing system, with an ultimate target of supplying one billion units each year through contracted production partners internationally.
Early commercial adopters include home cleaning brand smol, which will package liquid laundry items in the containers, alongside Purely Scottish Natural Mineral Water.
Following an 18-month joint development programme with Pulpex, the drinks company expects to debut the UK’s first natural mineral water distributed in a paper bottle.
The company stated that additional rollouts across the food, drinks, domestic care, and personal hygiene sectors will be detailed in the coming months.
Manufactured using “sustainably sourced wood pulp”, the patented containers contain no concealed plastics and are structured for collection through conventional domestic paper and cardboard recycling streams.
Regionally, Swiss firm Perlen Industrieholding has signed on as the first European manufacture under licence partner, receiving exclusive production coverage for Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and southern Germany.
In Asia, Alternicq has obtained development rights across India and the Gulf Cooperation Council territories ahead of a formal manufacturing agreement, forming the basis for expanding output beyond the Glasgow site’s initial volume.
Pulpex CEO Sandy Westwater said: “The opening of our Glasgow facility marks the moment Pulpex moves from proving the technology to proving the industrial model.
“Every Manufacture Under Licence discussion we have from today is a conversation about a working manufacturing facility rather than a prototype.”
