FULL scale commercial production of the world’s first wine and spirits bottle made from recycled paper, conceived in Suffolk, is about to get under way in a manufacturing facility in Wickham Market.
Frugalpac
Frugalpac, the British sustainable packaging company behind the exciting innovation, will produce the Frugal Bottles from a purpose-built ‘clean room’ at the home of Roland Plastics.
The two firms have been working closely over the last four years, in a bid to refine the bottle and ensure it could be market-ready for a global drinks industry keen to improve its environmental reputation.
Launched earlier this year, the Frugal Bottle is made from 94% recycled paperboard, with a food-grade liner. To date, they have been produced at Frugalpac’s Ipswich facility, where the company also creates and supplies other recycled paper-based products.
The scaling up of production will see Frugal Bottles produced at the Roland Plastics site and has seen additional recruitment of a dedicated tool-setter, to support bottle production.
Malcolm Waugh, CEO Frugalpac, said: “As Frugalpac continues to grow to meet the worldwide demand for our Frugal Bottle, putting our first bottle assembly machine on the Group Roland site made perfect sense.
“We have now reduced the distance the parts travel from production to final assembly and we’re ready to meet our global orders. The Roland team have gone above and beyond to support us setting up our new automated production line for this innovative sustainable packaging.”
Production, assembly and logistics for the Frugal Bottle will all be co-ordinated from the Wickham Market facility. The site already houses a workforce of 20.
Jonathan Paul, Director of Roland Plastics, said: “This innovative product is a perfect fit for our company as we are striving to make injection moulding sustainable, and to work alongside the very businesses who take an innovative approach to the use of recyclable materials at every stage of design.
“We’re really pleased to be welcoming Frugalpac to our site and look forward to this collaboration enabling the brand to reach its potential worldwide.”
Frugal Bottle is just 83g in weight, making it five times lighter than a normal glass bottle. It has a carbon footprint 84% lower than the typical bottle. It uses up to 77% less plastic than a plastic bottle.
Already, the product has attracted huge interest among wine and spirit producers in particular from both small start-ups and internationally recognised brands.
Starting life as Girdlestone Pumps in the 1960s, Roland Plastics has built a strong heritage in manufacturing, evolving into a trusted UK plastic injection moulding company supplying bespoke components to clients across the UK and internationally. With decades of experience, we support businesses of all sizes – from innovative start-ups to established global organisations – delivering reliable, high-quality plastic solutions across a wide range of industries.
From initial concept and product design through to prototyping, tooling, and full-scale production, we provide complete end-to-end plastic manufacturing services. Our expertise in precision injection moulding, mould tool design, mould manufacture, and product assembly ensures every component is produced to exact specifications, with consistent quality and efficiency at scale.
We take a collaborative approach, working closely with our clients to optimise designs for manufacture, reduce costs, and improve performance through Design for Manufacturing (DFM) principles. Combined with our commitment to sustainable manufacturing practices, including the use of recycled materials where possible, we help future-proof your products and supply chain.
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