Waddington Europe has three manufacturing sites, and we will be placing each one in the LinkedIn spotlight to answer your frequently asked questions, starting with our extrusion and thermoforming plant in Arklow.

1. Spotlight on Waddington Europe Arklow

2. Set in the stunning surroundings of Co. Wicklow,
Ireland colloquially known as "the Garden
of Ireland" due to its dramatic scenery, our site at
Arklow (formally Holfeld Plastics) was established
in 1978, initially supplying foam packaging to the
cosmetics industry.
During the intervening decades, and the
acquisition by Waddington Europe in 2014,
Arklow grew to become one of the leading Rigid
Plastics Packaging Manufacturers in the European
market.
Arklow produces high quality, innovative
packaging products and solutions to our
customers through the exploitation of an agile
manufacturing operation, combined with the
skills of a front line customer service team
dedicated to satisfying the needs of our
customers.
We enable our customers to meet their
environmental commitments with high-recycled
content and low carbon footprint products.

3. Fascinating Facts About Arklow

4. How big the site?
Enormous. Equivalent to three and a half football pitches!
Under one roof, or 183,567.73 square feet to be exact, we have all our main production facilities,
incorporating both raw materials and finished goods. We also have a separate tool shop, where all
thermoforming tools are made. This boasts an additional 10,000 sq. feet.

5. How many employees are there?
Under normal circumstances we have 159 employees. Some
office based employees are now working from home, but for
factory workers it’s business as usual at Arklow, we are all
on-site but social distancing!
How many machines do you have?
Five extrusion lines, and thirteen thermoforming machines
What are your most frequently produced products at
Arklow?
rPET sheet material, rPET fruit punnets, poultry, fish and
meat trays
What is the most unusual item you’ve ever made on the
production line?
rPET clear sheet material for Covid-19 PPE visors

6. What is unique about production capabilities at
Arklow?
We convert between 250 to 300 tonnes of post-
consumer washed PET bottles into alternative
packaging every week.
What does it mean to achieve AA standard BRC rating?
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is the UK’s food
retail industry trade association, with an international
Food Safety Management Systems standard, which is
also one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
recognised certification schemes.
The standard assesses key elements that must be in
place in our organisation to ensure production of safe
product. By achieving certification we are protecting
our product, customers and brand, and achieving AA
certification is outstanding, it means we passed with 5
or less minor non-conformances noted.
We are proud to have continually achieved an AA
certification each year from 2016.

7. What is your latest innovation that you are working on
right now?
We are currently testing and trialing 100% PCW, (Post
Consumer Waste) with a view to roll out later in the
year.
What is the latest carbon footprint reduction initiative
you’ve implemented on site?
We’ve just installed new HTS heaters on a trial basis for
one of the thermoforming machines, and it has proven
to give over 30% energy savings on electricity
consumption.

8. Coming Soon!
Watch this space for some
more exciting news about
Waddington Europe Arklow