Coveris announces the completion of a centre of excellence for wicketted bags at its site in Hartlepool. A high-performance, speciality bag-making facility, Coveris Hartlepool has grown its capacity for wicketted bags, supporting the demand for sustainable, quality packaging for bakery, produce and sanitary products.
The Hartlepool site, with one of the largest manufacturing capacities within the UK for wicketted bags, serves as a key production facility for the lightweight, recyclable formats. As part of its vertically integrated production model, the site benefits from Coveris in-house extrusion, reprographics, platemaking, printing, and conversion – reducing lead times, improving service responsiveness and driving technical developments.
Available in polyethylene (PE), Coveris’ MonoFlex Lite monomaterial films are at the core of its wicketted bag range at Coveris Hartlepool. Designed for both sustainable and product performance, the bags are compatible with chilled, frozen and ambient temperatures and are proven on fast-paced packing lines.
With up to eight-colour flexo print, Coveris’ wicketted bags combine visual shelf appeal with functional features including bottom gussets, captive flaps and resealable closures. The bags can also be supplied with Coveris’ award-winning Freshlife® technology that extends product shelf life for maximum freshness and reduced food waste, aligned with its No Waste sustainability strategy.
David Humes, Plant Manager at Coveris Hartlepool, said: “With our new UK centre of excellence and extensive capacity for wicketted bags, we support brands, manufacturers and retailers with expert packaging and service. Our capabilities in extrusion, print and bag-making to brand and colour management are backed by years of experience and technical understanding. This puts us in a strong position to meet seasonal demands, product-specific requirements, packaging legislation and sustainability targets within bakery, produce and personal hygiene markets for wicketted bags.”
Coveris is advancing sustainability in wicketted bag manufacturing through its award-winning ReCover Louth de-inking and recycling facility. Closing the loop in plastic packaging, the site processes production waste from Coveris and its customers to produce high-quality recycled resin for use in non-food contact formats, fully compliant with the UK Plastic Packaging Tax.
Coveris Hartlepool holds a Gold EcoVadis sustainability rating, ranking in the top 5% of businesses assessed globally, and an AA+ BRCGS Packaging Materials Issue 7 certification, reflecting high environmental and manufacturing standards and processes.
In addition to food and personal hygiene markets, the Hartlepool site serves banking, healthcare and medical diagnostics, mailing, security and ecommerce sectors with performance speciality bags and the same high levels of expertise.
Coveris was recently named Packaging Company of the Year at the UK Packaging Awards and received the Gold Award for Sustainable Packaging Business of the Year at the 2025 Environmental Packaging Awards.