A Liverpool firm that creates sustainable packaging with a focus on plant-based and biodegradable and compostable products will seek investment on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den this week. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool sustainable packaging firm Green Bell Packaging will this week attempt to secure new investment on BBC One TV show Dragons’ Den.

Green Bell founder M Vahid Nagori and associate director Thibault Denis will pitch to a panel of Dragons, including Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett, at 8pm on Thursday, February 17.

The business runs its operations from its Albert Dock headquarters and was established in 2018. It also has an international presence, with a London office and contacts all over Europe.

It has a client list covering several sectors including hospitality and events, pharmaceutical, retail and e-commerce and food and drink. The firm has worked with some of the UK’s largest high street retailers and wholesalers.

In May 2021 another Merseyside entrepreneur, Drew Cockton , appeared on Dragons; Den and secured a £50,000 investment for his luxury fragrance business. One of the Dragons, retail magnate Touker Suleyman, has made the investment in exchange for a 30% equity stake in Drew’s Wirral-based venture, Owen Drew.

M Vahid said: “We were delighted when we got the call to ask us to go on the show. Our aim is to revolutionise the packaging industry, all with the environment in mind, so to be given a platform on national television to showcase our work was just fantastic.

“We are passionate about raising awareness of some of the misleading information used in the sustainable packaging industry, with many sustainable products requiring industrial facilities to break down. This is where Green Bell’s packaging differs.

“Protecting the planet is a key ethos of the business and a pillar from which it was built and founded. Plastic waste is among one of the biggest contributors to the deterioration of our land and marine life, with 79% of it ending up in the ocean or in landfills. Although there has been an emphasis on recycling in recent years, we believe that this alone is not enough.”

Green Bell Packaging’s products are designed to be completely home compostable, giving businesses and consumers reassurance that they can simply discard their product after use, and it will return to the soil in a matter of weeks.

Operations head Prashant Sali, added: “It’s a really exciting time for us as a business. The company is expanding rapidly and in the last 12 months we have experienced a noticeable growth in our sales.

“After introducing the first completely plant-based mailing bag to the UK market during lockdown in 2020, we have enjoyed further success with our most innovative product to date, the BioBag.

“Although it looks and feels like a regular plastic bag, the BioBag is made using a 100% plastic-free polymer compound, manufactured from renewable natural materials and vegetable oil derivatives making it earth-friendly.

“Successfully tested for zero plastic content by the Low Carbon Eco Innovatory of Liverpool John Moores University, the unique composition of the BioBag offers an alternative to mass produced single-use plastics and will degrade naturally.”