Coventry-based packaging firm offers plastic-free cups after signing deal with UK manufacturer

By Peter Davison

21 November 2023

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Mark and Joanna Farr

A Coventry-based environmentally-friendly packaging company has signed a deal with a UK manufacturer to supply trailblazing plastic-free cups.

Purple Planet Packaging, which is run by Mark and Joanna Farr, is working with Green Rock Manufacturing Group to create its own Planetware products, starting with a 100 per cent recyclable, fully compostable disposable cup.

The company has grown from £120,000 turnover to £1.3 million since 2019, when Mark and Joanna purchased the company from a Devon-based businessperson and have breathed new life into it.

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The latest development marks the next phase in its growth, with the company planning to create new jobs and expand its headquarters in the West Midlands.

The new cup, which has PEFC certification and has a certified plastic-free barrier, is already attracting orders from a range of end-users including hospitality businesses and schools and colleges across the UK.

Mark said: “From day one, Joanna and I had a crystal-clear vision for Purple Planet Packaging.

“We aim to lead the charge towards a more sustainable future, all while celebrating and showcasing the unmatched excellence of British manufacturing.

“Considering the staggering 6.85 million disposable cups discarded daily in the UK, our 'Made in Britain' Planetware line is set to be a game-changer.

“Our alliance with the prestigious UK-based Green Rock Manufacturing Group underscores our unwavering commitment to nurturing UK's manufacturing potential.

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“We have deep ties to the respected hospitality industry in Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands and our vision also includes forging strong relationships with other UK businesses.

“This product will be the first of many when it comes to the Planetware brand and we’re really excited by this next phase of our development as a business.”

Purple Planet Packaging currently employs seven staff and this is expected to grow to 11 by 2025.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.