Berry bpi’s site in Bridgwater announces proposed closure

The Berry bpi facility on Bath Road, which made the announcement on November 2, has now entered into redundancy consultation with employee representatives for a period of 30 days, and said “every effort will be made to find alternative employment either within or outside the Group.”

The recent energy cost increase hitting the UK manufacturing sites was one of the factors that led to the proposed closure, as well as competitors from outside of Europe benefitting from lower raw material costs.

Dirk Deweer, divisional director, commented: “We are disappointed that we have had to announce the proposed closure of the Bridgwater site.

“Market pressures on industrial stretch-wrap films have become particularly intense in recent years, with products imported in large quantities from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.’’

“We are committed to finding alternative jobs where possible for affected employees at Bridgwater within or outside of the Group, should we implement these plans.”

A Berry Bpi spokesperson added: “The site on Bath Road manufactures industrial stretch-wrap films for pallet protection which are supplied to a variety of industrial and retail users.

“Competitors outside Europe benefit from lower raw material costs from the petrochemical industry, which maintains a premium to its European market.

“In addition, the recent energy cost increases have hit our UK manufacturing sites to a much greater degree than we have seen so far on the continent, and in a very competitive market with strong import penetration, it has been very challenging to pass these cost increases on to customers.

“Our site in Bridgwater is therefore, unfortunately, no longer able to compete financially with these competitive alternatives.”

Berry bpi is a company of Berry Global; it manufactures high-performance polythene films and is one of Europe's largest recyclers of polythene.