Innovia factory - closed for business - geograph

British Cellophane Ltd (BCL) was a joint venture company formed in 1935 between La Cellophane SA and

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

, when they began building a major factory for producing

Cellophane Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coate ...

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

, Somerset, England. It was recently announced that the former land vacated by British cellophane has been taken back as part of a long term agreement and will re-commence operation in 2026.

History

19th century

The process for manufacturing cellulose film from

viscose Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecula ...

was discovered by three English chemists,

Charles Frederick Cross Charles Frederick Cross FRS (11 December 1855 – 15 April 1935) was a British chemist. Born in Brentford, Middlesex, his fatherCharles James Cross (14 October 1827 - 19 November 1910) was a schoolmaster turned soap manufacturer. After graduatin ...

Edward John Bevan Edward John Bevan (11 December 1856 – 17 October 1921) was an English chemist. He became a leader in the affairs of the Society of Public Analysts and editor of The Analyst. Bevan was notable for his caustic wit. He was born in Birkenhead. A ...

and Clayton Beadle in 1898.

20th century

There followed a series of joint ventures and technology transfers among a number of companies predominantly in the UK and France. However, it was not until 1913 that Dr Jacques Brandenberger brought thin transparent cellulose film into true commercial production at the La Cellophane SA'' factory in Bezons, France. In 1937 British Cellophane set up production on a site in

, when unemployment levels in the town were high. The new buildings covered of the former Sydenham Manor fields, and had direct railway access. The factory produced cellophane up until late 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when it started switching production to war munitions and specifically

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, Prefabrication, pre-fabricated, Truss Bridge, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British Empire in World War II, British for military use during the World War II, Second World War and saw ...

s for the pending invasion of Europe. These were first used in Italy in 1943 by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. Production ramped up through early-1944 for

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. After the war the Bridgwater factory returned to producing cellophane, with its products exported worldwide. In 1957, a secondary facility was started at Barrow in Furness in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

(now in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

). A subsidiary Colodense Ltd, of

Bedminster, Bristol Bedminster, colloquially known as Bemmy, is a district of Bristol, England, on the south side of the city. It is also the name of a council ward which includes the central part of the district. The eastern part of Bedminster is known as Wind ...

produced specialist printed and coloured bags for loose food packaging in supermarkets. In 1962 it was employing 750+ people. In 1974 the company won the

Queen's Award to Industry The King's Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen's Award for Enterprise, is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting oppor ...

and by the late 1970s the site produced 40,000 tonnes of cellophane packaging film a year, employing 3,000 people. In 1982 it entered the 'Bag in a Box' market with a new plant at Ashton Vale Bristol, (CLP) 'Colendense Liquid Packaging Ltd', producing liquid packaging bags for the growing take home consumer wine and cider market and producing associated filling machines. In 1988 three separate factories on the site were producing

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...

and

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging (plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bott ...

film, and bonded fibre fabric. The rail link closed in 1994, and the Barrow factory was closed after the company was bought by UCB Films (later Innovia Films). The Barrow-in-Furness plant then employed 450 people.

21st century

In 2004, due to dwindling sales of

cellophane Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coate ...

as a result of alternative packaging options, and the fact that

was becoming less favoured because of the polluting effects of

carbon disulfide Carbon disulfide (also spelled as carbon disulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula and structure . It is also considered as the anhydride of thiocarbonic acid. It is a colorless, flammable, neurotoxic liquid that is used as ...

and other by-products of the process, Innovia decided to close one of its two plants at either

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; (March 9, 1768October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the Territorial evolution of the United States, expansion of the United States onto Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, east of

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. British

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

officials offered a $120,000 tax break over three years to Innovia to preserve the Bridgwater plant, while

offered $2 million if it kept the plant at Tecumseh open. As a result, the Bridgwater factory closed in the summer of 2005, while the factory in Tecumseh remained ope

250 jobs were lost, and the site is still under development as of January 2013. In 2012 Electricité de France, EDF purchased the site, including the Grade II listed 16th century building. In 2015 the industrial site was razed to the ground. It is intended for construction of temporary accommodation for 1,000 workers involved in the construction of

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. Hinckley was one of eight possible sites announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 ...

References

* '' "Bridgwater with and without the 'e' " , Roger Evans, * ''A History of Bridgwater'', J.C. Lawrence, * ''The "Cellophane" Story'', Ward-Jackson * ''Wembdon: Economic history – A History of the County of Somerset, Volume 6: Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds''

External links