Top 10 Paper Bag Manufacturers Serving the UK (2026 Guide)

The United Kingdom is one of Europe’s largest retail and e-commerce markets, and packaging demand has followed. Brands selling into the UK — from independent boutiques to national high-street chains — need paper bags that hold up in transit, print cleanly with their logo, and meet the sustainability expectations of British shoppers, who are among the most attentive in Europe to recyclability and plastic-free packaging claims.

UK buyers also face a regulatory backdrop that doesn’t exist in every market: the Plastic Packaging Tax and the newer Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reporting rules. Neither is unique to paper bags, but both are worth understanding before you place an order, and we cover what they actually mean for paper packaging further down this guide.

The term “paper bag manufacturer” covers a wide range of suppliers — from century-old British paper mills to specialist UK converters to overseas factories exporting into the UK. Below is an overview of ten manufacturers that serve the UK paper bag market, followed by what buyers should know about sourcing decisions specific to this market: domestic production versus importing, UK packaging regulation, and the realistic cost and timeline questions that come with bringing bags in from overseas.

As a seasoned consultant with 20 years of experience in the custom packaging industry, I’ve worked with brands across the full spectrum of these sourcing options — from British specialty printers to overseas factory partners. Here is a closer look at each of the ten companies above.

Lipack Packaging

Found Year: 2004
Key Products: custom paper bags, custom paper boxes, paper packaging
Advantageous features: factory-direct pricing, full in-house customization (printing, foil stamping, embossing), FSC and ISO 9001 certified materials, established track record shipping to UK brands
Introduction: Lipack Packaging is a Chinese manufacturer that has spent over two decades supplying custom paper bags to brands in 120+ countries, including retail and e-commerce brands in the UK. With three factories and in-house printing and finishing, Lipack handles both small-batch design runs and high-volume wholesale orders, and works directly with UK-based buyers on production, quality control, and export documentation.

Mondi

Found Year: 1967
Key Products: industrial paper bags, kraft paper, sustainable packaging papers
Advantageous features: UK-headquartered global packaging group, deep vertical integration from pulp and paper through to finished bags, extensive European manufacturing footprint
Introduction: Mondi is a global packaging and paper group headquartered in Weybridge, England, with operations spanning more than 30 countries. Its industrial paper bag division supplies self-opening sack (SOS) and other multiwall paper bag formats to customers across construction materials, food, and chemicals, and its scale gives it one of the deepest kraft paper supply chains serving the UK market.

Smurfit WestRock

Found Year: 2024 (formed by the merger of Smurfit Kappa and WestRock)
Key Products: corrugated packaging, paper-based bags and sacks, containerboard
Advantageous features: dozens of UK manufacturing and converting sites, combined European and North American footprint, broad paper packaging portfolio
Introduction: Formed in 2024 through the merger of Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa and Atlanta-based WestRock, Smurfit WestRock is now one of the largest listed packaging companies in the world, with a long-established UK manufacturing presence. Its UK operations include paper-based bag and sack production alongside its much larger corrugated packaging business, though like the rest of the industry it has been consolidating some UK sites amid challenging market conditions — worth confirming current site and lead-time details directly with the supplier.

Macfarlane Group

Found Year: 1949
Key Products: protective and retail packaging, eco-friendly and recyclable paper carrier bags
Advantageous features: over 75 years operating in the UK, listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1973, national distribution network
Introduction: Macfarlane Group started as a commercial stationery business in Glasgow in 1949 and has grown into one of the UK’s largest packaging distributors and manufacturers, offering paper carrier and gusseted bags in more than 20 sizes alongside a much broader protective packaging range. Its scale and UK warehousing network make it a common choice for brands that want a single domestic supplier for multiple packaging categories.

Dempson

Found Year: 1948
Key Products: foodservice and retail paper bags, sheeted wrapping papers, counter rolls
Advantageous features: family-owned since founding, two UK warehouses, one of the largest and most varied product ranges in the UK bag industry
Introduction: Dempson has been manufacturing paper-based packaging from its Maidstone site since 1948, with an additional sales office in Bradford. It’s a long-established, family-run British manufacturer that focuses specifically on flat bags, SOS bags, and carriers for the food and retail sectors, making it a useful reference point for buyers who want a domestic specialist rather than a diversified packaging conglomerate.

BestPac UK

Found Year: 2020 (per UK Companies House registration)
Key Products: recyclable paper bags for supermarkets and foodservice chains
Advantageous features: state-of-the-art Lancashire production facility, high daily output, BRCGS food-safety-grade certification
Introduction: BestPac UK operates a purpose-built paper bag facility in Blackburn, Lancashire, producing recyclable bags at high volume for major UK supermarkets and foodservice chains. It’s a good example of a newer, high-automation domestic manufacturer built specifically around fast, food-safety-certified UK supply rather than a decades-old legacy operation.

Paper Bag Co (Rawlings Group)

Found Year: 2005 (acquired by the Rawlings Group, founded 1850, in 2023)
Key Products: retail and promotional printed paper bags, FSC-certified stock ranges
Advantageous features: ready-stock wholesale bags for fast dispatch, backed by the wider Rawlings Group packaging network since its 2023 acquisition
Introduction: Paper Bag Co was founded in 2005 by Jon Marling and built a reputation supplying premium retail and promotional paper bags, before joining the Rawlings Group — an independent UK packaging specialist tracing its own roots to 1850 — in a 2023 acquisition. That combination gives it both a specialist paper bag catalogue and the backing of a larger UK packaging group.

Oversolve

Found Year: 1992
Key Products: printed carrier bags, paper and laminated carrier bags, bags for life
Advantageous features: quick-turnaround custom print runs, over £3m invested in plant and machinery, capable of over 2 million printed bags per week
Introduction: Oversolve was established in 1992 to offer UK businesses a faster, more competitively priced alternative for custom carrier bags, and has since grown into a manufacturer producing plastic, paper, and laminated carrier bags at scale. It’s a relevant option for brands that want a single UK supplier able to switch between bag materials as sustainability requirements or budgets change.

Precious Packaging

Found Year: 2018 (per UK Companies House registration)
Key Products: luxury printed paper carrier bags, bespoke retail and postal packaging
Advantageous features: Northern Ireland-based specialist, in-house design and sampling support
Introduction: Precious Packaging is a Northern Ireland-based printed packaging specialist supplying luxury printed carrier bags to retail brands across the UK and Ireland. It’s a smaller, design-led alternative to the large industrial paper groups above, aimed at brands prioritizing premium finish and in-house sampling over bulk-commodity pricing.

The Printed Bag Shop

Found Year: 2007
Key Products: custom printed paper bags for retail, hospitality, events, and e-commerce
Advantageous features: Newcastle upon Tyne production base, flexible order sizes aimed at smaller and mid-size brands
Introduction: The Printed Bag Shop is a UK-based manufacturer supplying custom printed paper bags to businesses across retail, hospitality, events, and e-commerce. It’s a useful option for brands whose order volumes are too small to interest the largest industrial paper groups but who still want UK-manufactured, custom-printed bags.

Sourcing Paper Bags for the UK Market: Domestic vs. Importing from China

Once you have a shortlist of suppliers, the real decision for most UK brands comes down to a trade-off: order from a domestic manufacturer (faster, simpler post-Brexit logistics, often more expensive per unit at lower volumes), or import from an overseas factory such as one based in China (typically lower unit cost at scale, longer lead time, and added import complexity now that the UK sets its own trade policy independently of the EU).

Neither option is universally “better” — it depends on order volume, timeline flexibility, and how much customization (finishes, structural design, printing complexity) you need. Large recurring orders with several months of lead time tend to favor overseas sourcing on cost; smaller, time-sensitive, or highly variable orders often favor a domestic supplier.

Are Paper Bags Subject to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax?

Generally, no. The UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) applies to plastic packaging components that contain less than 30% recycled plastic content — it is specifically a tax on plastic, not on packaging materials in general. Packaging made entirely from paper, including paper carrier bags, falls outside its scope. The one caveat worth knowing: if a bag combines paper with a plastic component that can’t reasonably be separated (for example, certain laminated or window bags), that plastic element may still fall under PPT depending on its recycled content. If you’re ordering laminated, window, or foil-lined paper bags, it’s worth confirming the exact construction with your supplier and, if in doubt, checking current guidance on GOV.UK rather than assuming the paper-bag exemption automatically applies to every hybrid format.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and UK Packaging Regulations

Separately from PPT, the UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging regime requires businesses that place packaging on the UK market to report the type, weight, and material of packaging they use, and — for larger producers above the regulatory thresholds — to pay fees that fund packaging waste collection and recycling. This applies to the UK business bringing the packaging to market (typically the brand or importer), not to the overseas factory manufacturing it, but it directly affects what data you’ll need to collect: material type, weight, and recyclability information for every packaging format you use, paper bags included. Reporting thresholds, deadlines, and fee structures have changed since EPR was introduced and may change again, so confirm your current obligations on the official GOV.UK EPR registration guidance rather than relying on a fixed figure here.

What It Costs to Import Paper Bags from China to the UK

If you do choose to import, three cost components matter: customs duties, ocean freight, and clearance time. All three are worth understanding in structure even before you get a specific quote, because they change based on your product classification and current trade policy.

• Customs duties depend on your commodity code. Paper bags are classified under a specific UK commodity code, and the applicable duty rate depends on that exact classification and the country of origin. UK trade policy has been set independently since Brexit and can change. Rather than relying on a fixed percentage here (which could be outdated by the time you read this), confirm the current rate for your specific product using the UK Trade Tariff tool or with a licensed customs broker before finalizing a purchase order.
• Ocean freight varies by shipment size, route, and season. A full container load, a partial (LCL) shipment, and an express air shipment all carry very different costs, and rates fluctuate with fuel prices and port congestion. Ask your supplier or freight forwarder for a current quote tied to your actual order volume and UK destination port — general benchmarks age quickly in ocean freight.
• Clearance and total transit time is typically several weeks, not days. Ocean freight from China to major UK ports, plus customs clearance and inland transport, commonly runs in the range of a few weeks to a couple of months door-to-door, depending on the origin port, destination, and time of year. This is a rough planning range only — build in buffer time and confirm current transit estimates with your freight forwarder before setting a launch date around it.

The practical takeaway: don’t finalize a landed-cost comparison between a domestic and an overseas supplier using numbers you found online. Get a real commodity-code-specific duty estimate from a licensed customs broker and a real freight quote tied to your volume — then compare that landed cost against a domestic quote for the same specification.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are paper bags subject to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax?

Generally no — PPT applies to plastic packaging components with less than 30% recycled content, and packaging made entirely from paper is outside its scope. The exception is a bag that combines paper with an inseparable plastic component, such as certain laminated or window bags, where the plastic portion may still be taxable. Confirm the exact construction with your supplier and check current GOV.UK guidance if you’re ordering a hybrid format.

2. Do I need to register for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) if I import paper bags?

If your UK business places packaging on the market, you likely have EPR reporting obligations, and for larger producers, fee obligations too — this applies to the UK brand or importer, not the overseas manufacturer. Requirements depend on your turnover and packaging tonnage thresholds, which have changed since EPR launched. Check the official GOV.UK EPR registration guidance for your current obligations rather than assuming a past figure still applies.

3. What import duty applies to paper bags from China to the UK?

It depends on the exact UK commodity code your product is classified under and current UK trade policy, which can change. Rather than relying on a general number, ask your supplier for the commodity code they use for your bag style and confirm the current applicable rate using the UK Trade Tariff tool or a licensed customs broker before placing an order.

4. Should I source paper bags domestically or import them from overseas?

It depends mainly on order volume and lead time. UK manufacturers generally offer shorter lead times and simpler logistics, which suits smaller or time-sensitive orders. Overseas manufacturers, including factories in China, often offer lower unit costs at higher volumes, but require longer lead times to account for production, ocean freight, and customs clearance. Many established UK retail brands use domestic suppliers for fast reorders and overseas suppliers for planned, high-volume production.

5. What is a typical minimum order quantity (MOQ) for custom paper bags in the UK?

MOQs vary widely by supplier type. Large industrial manufacturers and overseas factories typically set MOQs in the thousands of units per design to make custom printing runs cost-effective, while smaller UK specialty printers may offer lower minimums at a higher per-unit price. Always confirm current MOQ and pricing tiers directly with the supplier, since they can vary by bag size, material, and finishing complexity.

Conclusion

The ten companies above span the full range of options available to a brand sourcing paper bags for the UK market — from UK-headquartered global players like Mondi and Smurfit WestRock, to long-established British manufacturers like Dempson and Macfarlane Group, to specialist domestic printers like Oversolve and The Printed Bag Shop, to established overseas manufacturers like Lipack Packaging. Which one fits depends on your order volume, timeline, regulatory obligations, and how much customization you need.

If you’re evaluating an overseas sourcing option, Lipack Packaging offers over 20 years of experience manufacturing custom paper bags for brands around the world, including in the UK, with in-house printing, FSC/ISO 9001-certified materials, and direct support through production and export documentation. Explore our custom paper bags options, or if you’re comparing suppliers more broadly, our guide on how to choose a paper bag manufacturer covers the audit questions worth asking any supplier — domestic or overseas — before you commit. For wholesale volume pricing, see our wholesale paper bags page.

Sourcing outside the UK? See our comparisons for the UAE market, the USA market, or our broader list of large global paper bag manufacturers.

Have a specific order volume or timeline in mind? Contact us and we’ll walk you through production and shipping options for your project.