Walki invests in sustainable materials in the Wroclaw plant

Walki is investing in its Wroclaw plant in Poland to meet the growing demands for sustainable, fibre-based packaging.

Walki, specialized in fibre-based sustainable packaging for many years, is now investing strongly in its existing plant at Wroclaw as consumer packaging trends and regulations are driving the transition towards circularity and carbon-footprint reduction. “The demand for sustainable packaging is growing and we are expanding our portfolio and capacities to answer to this demand,” explains Plant Manager Bartlomiej Engel, Head of Production Cluster South, Consumer Coating at Walki.

The two-stage investment project targets rigid and flexible consumer packaging focusing on specific functionalities to protect ingredients while transitioning towards new sustainable packaging specifications. The first phase entails a streamlined production facility for barrier-board packaging including a new sheeting and finishing machine, as well as expanded building capabilities for production and logistics inaugurated last Tuesday. In a second phase, Walki plans to invest into new technologies to manufacture fibre-based mono-material packaging with ultra-high-barrier requirements.

 With the first part of the investment entailing the sheeting machine, Walki’s Wroclaw plant

will expand the offering to value-added barrier-board packaging. Together with its sister plant in Germany at Steinfurt, Walki will have a unique manufacturing set-up for such packaging materials in Central-Eastern and Western Europe. “This investment will enable us to make highly functional fibre-based packaging both for the food industry as well as the detergent segment. We are also glad to being able to offer this on the still growing local Polish market,” explains Engel.

As capacity will be substantially increased, Walki has also expanded its warehouse capabilities to allow for more space, offering improved flexibility and shorter delivery times.

“We are taking over a new part of the existing plant building, almost doubling the size of our warehouse capabilities. This will greatly reduce the so-called supply chain length time and we can keep a safety back up stock and guarantee direct deliveries within 24 hours”, says Engel.

With the new capabilities, the Wroclaw plant will mainly supply to customers located in Central and Eastern Europe, making logistics easier and significantly cutting CO₂ emissions due to shorter transporting distances. In addition, the new extension includes modern and sustainable maintenance solutions such as photovoltaics, heat pumps and zoned led lighting. “At the Wroclaw plant we have always been mindful on operating it as sustainably as possible with over 70 % of the electricity being provided by wind and solar energy. We have photovoltaic panels on the roof and special heating pumps utilising green power to provide heat and lighting,” says Engel.