The £550m candle market’s ‘unsolvable’ plastic problem — solved by a UK manufacturer with customers in 35 countries

EVERY CANDLE brand shipping glass jars through courier networks knows the problem: breakages that trigger refunds, one-star reviews, and reshipment costs that erode margin. Whilst some have solved the outer packaging, the internal fitment — the component that actually absorbs the impact — has remained stubbornly plastic: polystyrene inserts, bubble wrap, and foam cushioning. Today, Glasgow-based Cullen, Europe’s only manufacturer producing both corrugated and moulded fibre packaging under one roof, has launched a fully integrated, fibre-based transit system that resolves this conflict.

By combining a moulded fibre fitment within a corrugated outer, Cullen has created a complete system that withstands the high-vibration stresses of last-mile eCommerce delivery. Designed together, the two components perform best as a unit: one manufacturer, one point of accountability, all production under one roof in Glasgow, with no dependency on overseas sourcing for a critical component. 

Both components are also available separately: brands can adopt the moulded fibre fitment as a standalone upgrade. Each route reduces breakages, protects reviews and eliminates plastic from whichever part of the packaging system is being replaced. 

Cullen’s integrated approach also enables a closed-loop process, using waste from the corrugated manufacturing process as raw material for the moulded fibre fitments. This ensures maximum material efficiency while providing brands with a single-material, 100% recyclable solution.

Closing the ‘Protection Gap’

The range has been developed in direct response to demand from home fragrance brands seeking a fully recyclable transit alternative, and is available in standard configurations suited to common glass candle formats, with adaptation for brand-specific size requirements.

A timely solution for the ‘EPR shift’

The launch arrives as UK brands prepare for the 2026 shift toward Modulated Fees under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation. Under this Red-Amber-Green (RAG) system, mono-material paper packaging is expected to attract significantly lower fees than mixed-material alternatives, while hard-to-recycle plastic packaging faces surcharges.

• Financial impact: Under current 2025/26 base fees, pure paper/card attracts a fee of £196 per tonne, while plastic is charged at £423 per tonne. (Source: GOV.UK, PackUK — pEPR Base Fees 2025–26)
• Operational simplicity: Switching to Cullen’s all-fibre system removes the administrative burden of reporting multiple material streams, de-risking the supply chain against future plastic surcharges.
• Supply chain resilience: With design, tooling and production all carried out under one roof in Glasgow — including Cullen’s own proprietary moulded fibre machinery, designed and built in-house — brands avoid the lead-time volatility and quality inconsistency that come with sourcing fitment and outer from separate suppliers. With all manufacturing based in the UK, customers are insulated from supply chain disruption arising from overseas dependency.

Data at a glance: the UK home fragrance opportunity

• £550m: Current UK candle market value. (TechSci Research, 2024)
• ~£900m: Projected market value by 2030, driven by premium container candles. (TechSci Research, CAGR 8.9%)
• 57.6%: Market share of container-based candles — the segment most reliant on high-performance transit packaging. (Grand View Research, 2024)
• 35: Countries where Cullen actively serves customers, making it one of the UK’s most internationally active fibre packaging manufacturers.
• 100%: Recyclability of the Cullen system via standard household paper waste collection.

Jo Markwick, chief commercial officer, said: “Candle brands have been able to move their outer packaging to sustainable materials for years, but the internal protection has remained the ‘unsolvable’ piece of the puzzle. Because we manufacture both components in-house — using our own proprietary moulded fibre machinery for the fitment — we’ve eliminated the ‘rattle-room’ found when sourcing from separate suppliers. The result is a seamless interface that protects fragile glass without a single gram of plastic. We produce over one billion plastic-free moulded fibre products from our Glasgow facility every two years. And because everything is made here in the UK, our customers have the price, scale and reliability they need regardless of what is happening in global supply chains.”