About Us
Who we are
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Yes - We’re Carbon Neutral!
What We Do
Based in the hills of Powys in Newtown, Mid-Wales, we work with companies across virtually all sectors of industry across all areas of the United Kingdom. From bespoke packaging consultations through to sourcing, distribution and delivery, your packaging is our passion.
Our Values
Meet the Team
Sales Executive
Sales Executive
Emily Bryant
Robyn Rutter
Customer Care
Dan Aftowicz
Warehouse Supervisor
Quality and Compliance Manager
Co-ordinator
Marketing Executive
Chloe Jewell
Georgia Jackson
Purchasing Assistant
Reduce your Plastic
Packaging Tax to
Plastic Packaging Tax is currently set at a rate of £210.82 per metric tonne. This tax applied to plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported to the UK where the plastic used in its manufacture is less than 30% recycled.
Our History
Here at Cambrian, we’re proud of who we are and our decades of heritage in the world of plastic packaging. We take our name from our Welsh homeland, with our family-run premises based in the rolling green hills of Powys in Newtown, Mid-Wales. Our reputation has been one of excellence, and the story behind reaching that reputation is one we love to tell…
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1993
BUSINESS ESTABLISHED IN NEWTOWN, POWYSCambrian was founded by current chairman Martin Simpson and his son Mike, both of whom were new to the packaging industry.
Our early days saw us stock and distribute bottles and jars for the hair and beauty industry, all listed in our priced catalogues. We rapidly developed a reputation for ‘best-in-class’ products and steady growth followed. Cambrian soon became the trusted packaging partner for companies of all sizes and across a diversity of sectors.
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1999
MOVE TO UNIT 32Running out of space to meet the ever-growing demand, we relocated to a much bigger facility on the Mochdre Industrial Estate in Newtown. Plastic bottles are bulky to store! -
1999
CAMBRIAN SECURES UK DISTRIBUTORSHIP OF CANYON TRIGGERSCanyon Europe is the leading UK manufacturer of trigger spray heads, and since 1999 we’ve been the exclusive UK stockist of their products. To this day we enjoy a strong and positive business relationship.
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1999
GUALA DISTRIBUTORSHIP AWARDED TO CAMBRIANAs the 90s drew to a close, we also became the sole UK stockist and distributor for another leading manufacturer – Guala Dispensing. Guala is known for introducing snap-on trigger spray heads. We enjoy a close working relationshiop and our partnership has seen both companies go from strength to strength.
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2000
A BOLD START TO THE NEW MILLENNIUMCambrian marked the millennium by investing in our first tooling for an HDPE bottle. The resulting 1000ml specialist soap bottle is still a stock item with regular custom.
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2002
THE INTRODUCTION OF A BEST SELLERIn 2002, we received a commission to design a 1000ml plastic bottle to dispense toilet cleaner. The result was an angled neck bottle that is filled while in the vertical position and is still a core product today.
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2003
ANOTHER FIRST: PET TOOLINGWe received a brief from a nationally recognised brand to create a 500ml PET spray bottle for their new range. The resulting product was an attractive spray bottle that has been used by many companies and is still in production.
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2005
THE ‘PHASER’ AND ‘SUMO’ SPRAY BOTTLES COME TO LIFEDuring the mid-noughties, Cambrian purchased the tooling to create two further trigger spray bottle designs. The resulting ‘Sumo’ (300ml and 500ml) and ‘Phaser’ (500ml and 750ml) bottles are available to order.
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2006
A NEW TRADITION ESTABLISHED WITH THE ‘SEVERN’ JERRY CANCambrian’s naming convention was established in 2006 with the naming of our 1 litre jerry can after the river that flows through our hometown, Newtown – The Severn. Many of our proprietary products now carry Welsh place names.
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2007
ACQUISITION OF CONTAINERS DIRECTAfter years of healthy cooperation, we acquired Newcastle-based Containers Direct, a fellow distributor of bottles and containers. This move strengthened our supply lines and allowed us to expand our product range.
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2007
SECOND WAREHOUSE SET UPThe year ended with the purchase of a second warehouse, enabling us to store more bulky plastic bottles. Warehouse 2 is now used for storage of selected product ranges.
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2009
‘ELAN’, OUR MOST POPULAR TRIGGER SPRAY BOTTLE RANGE IS BORNDuring 2009, we established tooling for our most popular trigger spray bottle range – the Elan. Available in 500ml and 750ml sizes, the Elan range quickly became a favourite for retail products due to its attractive design and positive ergonomics.
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2012
‘SNOWDON’ TOOLING COMMISSIONEDA growing requirement for 1000ml waisted plastic bottle foe use with trigger sprays prompted us to invest in tooling for the Snowdon range – a range that has been in demand ever since.
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2014
1000ML ‘ELAN’ SPRAY BOTTLE VARIANT ADDEDEarly in 2014 we expanded the ‘Elan’ range to include a 1000ml bottle. This created the first family of spray bottles spanning 500ml to 1000ml.
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2014
‘BRECON’ IS LAUNCHED2014 saw us successfully extend our own-mould products beyond the spray world once again, with the launch of the ‘Brecon’ range of rectangular plastic bottles, perfect for industrial requirements.
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2014
WELCOMING THE THIRD GENERATIONIn August, Cambrian welcomed Adair Simpson into the Sales team– the first of a third generation of the Simpson family to contribute to the success of Cambrian Packaging.
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2014
‘CONWAY’ TOOLING COMMISSIONEDDevelopment of the now highly popular Conway range took place as a result of a specific customer requirement for a distinctive spray bottle design in small sizes (300ml and 500ml) with a choice of necks.
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2015
A UK FIRST WITH FLAIROSOLOur speciality has always been in spray dispensing, so we were thrilled to become a stockist of the cutting-edge Flairosol range, a system of airless 360° spray dispensers and bottles.
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2016
NEW YEAR, NEW NAMEDuring 2016, we re-branded as Cambrian Packaging to reflect our evolving focus. Over the years, our range had diversified into all manner of packaging and our old name, ‘Cambrian Containers’, no longer reflected our offering.
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2016
CUTTING THE RIBBON ON OUR ONLINE SHOPLater in the year, we launched our first e-commerce facility. We continued to refine the shop late into 2016 and then pushed it live on our new website.
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2017
500ML CERI TOOLING COMMISSIONEDTooling for our ‘Ceri’ range of 500ml and 750ml plastic spray bottles was completed in spring 2017 and immediately found favour with national brands.
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2017
ECYCLE™As international concern mounted over sustainability, we responded by specifying a new breed of cylindrical and spray bottles, made from 100% recycled HDPE.
The requirement for packaging containing recycled materials is set to rise considerably and the public seek answers to littering and pollution problems.
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2017
INTRODUCTION OF EASYSPRAYIn 2017, we were pleased to introduce a unique thumb-operated trigger head to our range. This spray head reduces actuation effort by 50%.
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2014/2018
GROWTH OF TRIGGERS AND SPARY BOTTLES TRADEOur focus paid off! Records show that our supply of trigger spray heads and bottles had grown from 26% to 45% of turnover since 2014.
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2018
500ML & 1000ML PET CYLINDRICAL TOOLING COMMISSIONEDLate 2018 saw us invest in tooling for 500ml and 1000ml PET bottles in the classic cylindrical design, especially popular in the auto care and household product sectors.
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AUTUMN 2019
NEW WEBSITE COMMISSIONEDAs the decade drew to a close, we celebrated by commissioning a new website. Increased demand and an ever-growing product range meant that we had outgrown our old site.
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January 2020
LAUNCH OF NEW WEBSITE.At the start of the 2020s, the new website was launched, further improving our user experience by making it easier than ever for customers to find their perfect packaging solution.
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Spring and summer 2020
Support of essential services.Throughout the first COVID-19 lockdown Cambrian continued to serve the customer base prioritising supply of bottles and dispensers to customers supplying the healthcare and pharma sectors. We appreciate the hard work of all colleagues during this difficult period.
Great respect is due to the NHS and care sector for their selfless and strenuous efforts to minimise the effects of the pandemic.
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August 2020
New 250ml PET bottleWe enhanced our PET cylindrical range with the addition of a 250ml version and took the decision to specify a 28/410 neck to enable the bottle to be combined with a 28mm lotion pump - supporting delivery of hand sanitisers that have become a feature of daily life.
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October 2020
Additional Elan range tooling.The Elan range of spray bottles continues to be popular so in order to stay abreast of increasing demand, additional tooling was invested in for the 500ml and 750ml variants. We chose UK-manufactured stainless steel moulds for a quality finish and maximum useful life.
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January 2021
For a while customers have been asking for a PET version of the popular 500ml Elan spray bottle and we're pleased to oblige. As always, we've worked with UK companies on the tooling and manufacture.
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SPRING 2021
Due PET being easily recyclable, bottles in this material became a regular request from custimers so we added further options to our stock range in a variety of designs.
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June 2021
New hard copy product guide.
Many customers ask for a physical reference tool to help in choosing packaging, we were happy to oblige!
Click HERE for your copy.
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August 2021
Ahead of the Plastic Packaging Tax due to be applied April 2022, we started the introduction of product variants incorporating 30% PCR (post consumer recyclate) material. These products will have zero liability for the tax.
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September 2021
In response to customers making enquiries about the detail of the pending Plastic Packaging Tax we published a whitepaper on the subject. Developments published by HMRC during October 2021 resulted in our updating the info - for a copy, click HERE
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January 2022
Our popular Elan spray bottle range now includes the 500ml and 750ml 28/410 necked versions with inclusion of 30% PCR (post-consumer recycled) HDPE polymer which will avoid any extra cost under the Plastic Packaging Tax. Click HERE for details.
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May 2022
The Plastic Packaging Tax is now live and being applied to products as appropriate. Our ZER0 range has been expanded and now includes bottles from 50ml up to 5 litres, 21 options in total. Watch this space for further developments!
