Ball Corp. planning to build new plants in the UK and Russia

Increasing capacity | Aluminium drinks cans are the world’s most widely recycled beverage packaging with an 82 % recycling rate in the UK and 76 % across Europe. Now Ball Corporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of recyclable aluminium beverage packaging, is planning to significantly increase its manufacturing capacity, with new facilities in the UK and Russia.

With an increasing consumer call for more sustainable purchasing options and a growing number of new brands and beverage categories choosing cans, demand for aluminium packaging is rapidly expanding around the world, also due to the changing consumption patterns during the pandemic, meaning that consumers are enjoying more of their favourite beverages at home and on-the-go. Each facility would produce, from 2023, billions of cans a year across a range of formats and sizes, and provide up to 200 skilled jobs in a fast-growing but stable sector.

In the UK, Ball has identified a site at the Segro Park Kettering Gateway, an established industrial development in Northamptonshire. Ball has submitted its formal application to North Northamptonshire Council and anticipates breaking ground during 2021, following a period of public consultation. The planned Kettering plant will represent Ball’s third beverage can manufacturing facility in the UK, adding capacity to its established plants in Milton Keynes and Wakefield. It will supply cans for domestic customers in a growing range of categories, which now includes hard seltzers, wines, ready to drink cocktails, together with pure and enhanced water brands.

To serve the fast growing Russian market, especially in the beer and energy drinks categories, Ball is planning to build a plant in Ulyanovsk in Western Russia, in addition to the three already established plants in Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Region; Vesvolozhsk, St. Petersburg Region; and Argayash, Chelyabinsk Region. Ball Beverage Packaging Naro-Fominsk has signed a cooperation agreement for its construction with the Ulyanovsk Regional Government, who in June also awarded the development ‘Highly Significant Investment Project’ status.