Taxpayer cash ploughed into wooden bottles under Labour's net zero drive

Telegraph

19-02-2025

Millions of pounds of taxpayer cash is being ploughed into a company that makes wooden drinking bottles as part of Labour's push towards net zero.
Britain's National Wealth Fund, which is fully owned by the Treasury, on Wednesday announced a £43.5m investment into Cambridgeshire-based start-up Pulpex, which makes recyclable water bottles out of wood pulp.
The investment will help finance Pulpex's plan to build its first ever manufacturing plant, near Glasgow, which is expected to produce 50m wooden bottles each year and create 35 jobs in Scotland.
The wood-based bottles have a lower carbon footprint than plastic or glass and Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said the investment would 'aid the decarbonisation of our packaging industry and help accelerate our net zero goals as we drive delivery of clean power by 2030'.
The Scottish National Investment Bank, which is fully owned by the Scottish government, is investing £10m alongside the National Wealth Fund and Pulpex ultimately hopes to raise £62m.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, hailed the investment as 'welcome news' that was 'creating jobs, sustainable growth and opportunity in Scotland'.
The UK's endorsement of wood-based bottles comes as Donald Trump rails against similar products in the US. Last week, the president signed an executive order to ban the US government from buying paper straws.
Mr Trump told reporters: 'We're going back to plastic straws.'
Referring to paper straws, he said: 'These things don't work, I've had them many times and, on occasion, they break, they explode. If something's hot, they don't last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It's a ridiculous situation.'
The UK Government's investment comes as Labour is scrambling to transform the UK into a net zero economy, which involves cutting the country's carbon footprint and rewiring the country's electricity grid to be based on renewable energy. A new levy on packaging, which has been dubbed a 'glass tax' by industry, will come into force later this year and is meant to encourage recycling.
John Flint, the outgoing chief of the National Wealth Fund, said: 'We need to recycle more and unlock the growth potential of the circular economy. That requires sophisticated, long-term investment, both in infrastructure and packaging innovation.'
Over 38.5m plastic bottles are used every day, with around 16m ending up in landfill, being burnt or littering the environment and waterways, according to Water UK.
The National Wealth Fund was formerly called the UK Infrastructure Bank before it was rebranded by Labour last year. It was allocated £7.3bn in the Budget and has been tasked with investing in 'the new industries of the future'. Ministers have pledged to use the National Wealth Fund to accelerate Britain's transition away from oil and gas, including by supporting efforts to decarbonise parts of the economy that are most reliant on fossil fuels.
Pulpex makes drinks bottles by moulding wood pulp into fully biodegradable containers, which it eventually plans to sell to major companies as alternatives to glass or plastic.
The start-up was first formed in 2020 out of a research and development project between sustainability consultancy Pilot Lite and FTSE 100 drinks group Diageo, which owns major brands including Smirnoff and Guinness.