Interflex Group has invested £1.5 million in new equipment at its Sunderland factory, which makes flexible packaging for bakery and snack food, to increase capacity by about 20%.

Packaging manufacturer Duo UK received a multi-million pound funding package from HSBC UK to buy an Italian-made co-extruder for its Manchester factory, scaling up production by up to 20% and stock capacity by 30%. The company expects to create 5 new jobs over the next 12 months.

Biffa has received planning approval from Durham County Council for a £15m plastics recycling plant at Foxcover Distribution Park near Seaham, creating around 70 jobs. Construction is expected to start in Summer 2019.

Packaging manufacturer Duo UK is investing £1.5m in new machinery for its Manchester factory, including an Italian-made co-extruder, to raise productivity and boost stock capacity by 30%. The investment is expected to create five new jobs.

RPC Group plc ended merger talks with Bain Capital and gave Apollo Global Management more time to make a firm takeover offer for the European plastics packager.

Coral Products PLC's Haydock Mouldings division received a further £795,000 order under a supply contract for plastic totes for a customer's UK fulfilment centres, expected to continue into the fourth quarter to April 2019.

RPC is in preliminary talks with two major private equity firms over a possible sale of the plastic packaging company.

RPC Group, a European plastic packaging maker, confirmed it is holding discussions with private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital about a possible sale of the company.

Flexible plastics firm STM Packaging has entered administration following declining business.

RPC bpi recycled products has acquired PLASgran, a UK rigid plastics recycler, in a £34.5 million deal.

United Caps is investing EUR 20 million in a new factory in Dinnington, Rotherham, its first UK facility, creating 20 jobs. The plant will make plastic caps and closures for beverage and dairy packaging, with production expected to begin at the end of 2019.

Coster Group is expanding its Barlborough, UK valve production site by 4,000 square meters to a total of 8,500 square meters, adding an injection moulding department and an assembly department. Production from the Stevenage plant will move to Barlborough and Zwolle, with Stevenage ceasing operations by September 30.

Groupe Guillin's UK subsidiary Sharpak Bridgwater signed an exclusive agreement to acquire Etimex Primary Packaging's British CPET packaging production and sales business, with a closing expected by end of September 2018. The business has annual revenue of about EUR 6 million.

Packaging maker Faerch Plast joined Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco and waste firm Viridor in a circular-economy project to recycle black plastic into new food-grade packaging. Recycling starts in July 2018 at Viridor's Rochester facility in Kent, with an initial target of 120 tonnes per month.

RWC has acquired John Guest Holdings Ltd, a UK maker of plastic push-to-connect fittings and pipe with three UK manufacturing facilities. The deal was announced on 4 June 2018 and no value was stated.

Dutch keg maker Lightweight Containers took a 10-year lease on a 62,000 sq ft unit at Foxcover Industrial Estate in Seaham, County Durham, expecting around 35 jobs within two years and production from July.

Wavin opened a 86,111 sq ft expansion of its plastic pipe factory in Chippenham, Wiltshire, funded by a multimillion-pound investment from its Mexican parent Mexichem. The expansion is intended to add job opportunities at the site.

Tower Growth Management acquired Nottingham-based packaging firm Visual Packaging for an undisclosed sum, planning to grow its turnover from £2.6m to £3.3m with biodegradable plastic packaging.

Sunderland-based Pakway, which turns waste plastic bottles into packaging sheet, plans to double its capacity, with a second production line arriving in April 2018 and full capacity expected by end-2018.

Aegg is investing 2 million pounds in a new 60,000 sq ft UK food packaging manufacturing facility in Eye, Suffolk, making PS, PET and PP food pots and bowls, with first production planned for 2018.

Robinson Packaging is planning to expand in the UK after a funding package deal with HSBC; the amount was not disclosed.

Italian packaging producer Sirap-Gema agreed to buy rigid plastic food packaging maker Kama Europe, trading as Pactiv, from Reynolds Group Holdings, with completion expected mid-January 2018. Kama Europe has a plant in Sedgefield employing 110.

RPC Tedeco-Gizeh extended its contract as a preferred supplier to NIVO Group, a UK buying group, to produce plastic vending cups for its members throughout the UK.

Aegg Creative Packaging is investing GBP 1 million in a new 60,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in the UK to make injection moulded food packaging. The site is planned to expand to 140,000 sq ft in a second phase, with production expected to start before the end of 2017.

Plastics supplier ActionPlas has invested over GBP 1 million in new premises, staff and machinery to support its growth plans.

ActionPlas, a Leeds-based plastics supplier, invested over £1 million in new machinery, a warehouse expansion of 4,000 sqm to 7,600 sqm, and staff. The investment includes two Haas milling centres and new CNC routing equipment.

Vanden Recycling has opened a new plastics processing facility in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire.

Private investment firm Bain Capital, through its Europe fund, is acquiring UK packaging company Petainer, a deal that runs alongside its purchase of Belgian preform maker Resilux and may see the businesses combined.

Scotland Excel awarded Craemer UK Limited a GBP 50 million contract to supply and deliver recycling and refuse containers, bins and sacks to local authorities in Scotland.

Mondi Group bought UK-based Excelsior Technologies from funds managed by Endless and minority shareholders for a total consideration of GBP 33 million on a debt and cash-free basis. Excelsior operates plants in Deeside and Nelson and makes flexible food packaging.

RPC Containers Blackburn developed a new, narrower 3.6L injection-moulded PET jar in a custom mould for Tangerine Confectionery's sweet range, reported November 28, 2016.

Plastipak Packaging completed the acquisition of the business assets of Evolve Polymers Ltd. from Aurelius at its Hemswell Cliff site in the UK, which can process 6 to 9 billion PET bottles a year. The business began operating immediately under Plastipak's ownership.