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Futamura UK, a manufacturer of sustainable cellulose films, has invested £15 million in its Wigton, Cumbria, facility.

The investment aims to cut emissions, improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of the company’s products.

The new project, internally known as WSA, will use an oxidation process to convert waste gases from production into a reusable raw material. The process will also generate heat, which will be used to produce steam – supplying around 15% of the site's total energy needs. This will reduce the company’s reliance on natural gas and lower overall carbon emissions.

According to Futamura, this marks the largest investment at the Wigton facility since its acquisition by Japanese owners in 2016.

The site, which employs 270 people and has operated in the area for over 90 years, manufactures cellulose-based films under the NatureFlex and Cellophane brands. These materials are derived from wood pulp and are certified compostable.

In addition, the UK Government has awarded Futamura up to £4.5 million in support through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), designed to help businesses transition to lower-carbon operations.

Futamura's managing director, Adrian Cave, commented: "At Futamura, we are passionate about our NatureFlex and Cellophane products, and we believe that this also means that we have to continually evolve and utilise greener manufacturing processes, to further reduce our environmental footprint. We are delighted that the IETF energy efficiency grant has resulted in this project coming to fruition. Transformational projects such as this WSA installation invariably are expensive and have a medium to long term payback. We are very grateful for this support.”