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Nampak Plastics is investing £3.25m in a bottle manufacturing facility inside Dale Farm's Pennybridge dairy in Northern Ireland that will come on line this summer.

The new facility will create 20 manufacturing positions at the plant in Ballymena and will directly serve the dairy as well as provide a springboard for Nampak to develop sales in the Republic of Ireland.

Nampak sales director Jamie Tinsley said: "Locating the bottle manufacturing and filling in one location removes the needs to transport bottles between sites, dramatically cutting transportation costs and the associated carbon emissions."

He added there was also less handling of the bottles that meant less damage and waste.

The in-plant will have four blow-moulding machines to manufacture more than 100 million HDPE milk bottles a year,and Nampak plans for a minimum 10% recycled content.

The Nampak investment is backed by £254,000 funding from Invest NI and the European Regional Development fund.

Tinsley told Packaging News the plant would be the first blow-moulding facility in Northern Ireland. "As well as Dale Farm it will benefit other dairies in the country. Part of the reason we secured the grant was because we are looking at exporting to the Republic."

Nampak continued to look at ways to boost the recycling content of its bottles in line with the milk road map, Tinsley added.

"We need to consider availability, and are working with Closed Loop London and Greenstar WES. But we also need to make sure from the manufacturing and reprocessing side to make sure there's no impact from increasing the recycled content," he said.

The investment coincides with Dale Farm's £36m investment in its dairy procession facilities that is being supported by Invest Northern Ireland and will help stimulate external sales growth by £37.5m per year over the next four years.

A cheddar cheese making facility has already been opened and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by 2013.

NI enterprise minister Arlene Foster said the Nampak investment would bring benefits to Dale Farm and the wider dairy sector, as well as the plastic packaging manufacturer.

"Nampak is one of Europe's largest manufacturers of rigid containers to the food and drinks industry. Its plant in Ballymena will see the largest liquid milk in-plant blow-moulding facility on the island of Ireland," she said.

"The new base will help Nampak explore its export opportunities."

David Dobbin, Dale Farm chief executive, said the investment programme would help it develop supply capabilities across the UK and Ireland.

"The investment will provide best in class capability and economies of scale that we need to compete more effectively against major international competitors," said Dobbin.

Nampak Plastics Europe already counts five in-plant, through-the-wall manufacturing facilities among its seven UK operations.

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