2 minute read - 15th June 2022
Edible Oils completes £24m investment at Erith site
Edible Oils Limited (EOL) has opened its newly renovated bottling facility, following the completion of a multiyear investment programme worth £24m.
The investment at EOL’s Erith site, one of the largest employers in the area, has involved the installation of new state-of-the-art bottling lines for cooking oils, as well as an upgraded oil tank farm with transfer capability into the factory. The Greater London site has also expanded its dry goods warehouse and constructed a new finished product warehouse and a new staff car park with EV charging capabilities.
Edible Oils has completed a £24m investment at its Erith site – the project has increased overall production capacity at the site by around 50% / Picture: EOL
EOL is a joint venture between Princes and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), and is the UK’s largest producer of packaged oils for the retail sector, supplying over 50% of the UK’s customer own brand and branded seed oil volume. The Erith site bottles the Crisp ‘n’ Dry, Flora and Mazola brands and also packs rapeseed, sunflower and corn oils for customer own brands.
The project, which will support the firm’s growth plans, has increased overall production capacity at the site by around 50% and enabled EOL to produce 5-litre bottles on site for the first time.
Mark Church, managing director of EOL, said: “We’re delighted to have completed this investment programme, which is a major milestone for the business and reflects several years of hard work by our teams and partners, throughout the height of the pandemic. The investment has significantly boosted our production capabilities and capacity, and we have been able to lightweight certain bottles, which will eliminate around 90 tonnes of plastic every year.”
Abena Oppong-Asare MP for Erith and Thamesmead, who recently visited the new bottling facility, added: “It is fantastic to see Edible Oils bring new investment into Erith and Thamesmead with the expansion of the Erith site. It is quite the achievement to have successfully completed this venture during the pandemic. As one of the largest employers in the constituency, the expansion demonstrates their commitment to the area and it is great to see more high-quality local jobs and opportunities for residents.”
EOL’s purpose-built Erith site supplies over 100 million litres of oil each year. It forms the hub of EOL’s cooking oil production and is fully integrated with an adjacent refinery complex – one of the largest seed oil crushing and refining establishments in Europe.