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CCUK Named Supplier of the Year at the CaterBar Annual Conference

Entering an established market is never simple. The UK Away from Home (AfH) tissue sector is notoriously fast-paced and crowded, dominated by long-standing manufacturers with deep roots. Breaking through the noise takes more than just high-quality products—it requires clarity of vision, relentless effort, and trust.

That’s why receiving The Supplier of the Year Award at this year’s CaterBar Annual Conference is such a defining milestone for all of us at Cartiere Carrara UK (CCUK).

Hard Work, Great Strategy, and Unmatched Teamwork

When CCUK set out to make its mark in the UK market, we knew we had to bring something truly valuable to the table. We focused on building a resilient, integrated supply chain, delivering sustainable and innovative hygiene solutions, and providing responsive, dependable service every step of the way.

Behind every product delivered and every promise kept is an incredible team working tirelessly behind the scenes. From manufacturing and logistics to account management and customer support, winning this award is a direct reflection of our team’s shared dedication and passion.

Powered by Strong Partnerships

While strategy and teamwork build the foundation, success in our industry is ultimately built on partnerships.

We are immensely grateful to the CaterBar Group and its member network. Trust is earned through consistency, and being recognised by a leading consortium of independent catering and hygiene distributors is a true honor. This award belongs as much to our partners as it does to us—without your collaboration, feedback, and shared commitment to high standards, this milestone wouldn’t have been possible.

Looking Ahead

Winning Supplier of the Year confirms that we are on the right path, but it’s also motivation to keep pushing forward. As we continue to expand our footprint across the UK, we remain committed to delivering sustainable innovation, exceptional quality, and the reliable service our partners rely on every single day.

To everyone who has supported CCUK on this journey so far: thank you. Moments like this make every bit of hard work entirely worthwhile.

Interested in partnering with CCUK or learning more about our sustainable tissue solutions? Get in touch with our UK team today.

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Polycyclic Plantations

In the area of Badia Pozzeveri, not far from our production hub in Capannori, we set up a series of continuous cycle plantations where trees and shrubs with different growth and cutting patterns coexist. They are constantly replanted after cutting, or grow back autonomously from shoots, thus guaranteeing constant natural coverage over time. From the eco-environmental standpoint, polycycle plantations requalify a flat area that used to have only residual agricultural value, improving the local habitat, regulating the absorption of rainwater, and conserving carbon stock in the soil.  

Natural polycyclic plantations are usually composed of an alternation of: 

  • Medium–long-cycle plants, cut at 15–40-year intervals from planting (hazelnut, cherry, oak, maple, ash, linden) for wood used as structural timber or for manufactured products.
  • Short-cycle plants, cut at 8–14-year intervals from planting (in particular poplar) for the production of paper or packaging.
  • Very short-cycle plants, cut at 6–7-year intervals from planting (e.g. plane) and used as firewood.
  • Shrubs that are not cut, and contribute to maintaining soil coverage.

 

This varied composition ensures that the different species are cut at different times, allowing any intervention to have a modest impact on the landscape and on the habitats created. Furthermore, the limited agricultural practices required by this management approach allow for preservation of the carbon stock in the soil, and avoid further aggravating global warming due to the massive repetition of tree cutting and replanting.

This type of planning and management of the woods – which includes the permanence of at least 30-40% of the trees after each cutting cycle – allows us to pair different productive species (namely those providing firewood, structural or construction timber, and wood for the production of cellulose) with the logic of permanent topsoil coverage and biodiversity protection.

The wood management method created by polycyclic plantations entails multiple benefits: productive, visual, bio-ecological benefits in terms of habitats for animal species (protecting local biodiversity), regulation of rainwater, and conservation of carbon stock in soil. All thanks to the limited cutting practices (and the permanence of a large part of the woods), which however supply local production chains, including those dedicated to poplar wood and to cellulose production for paper manufacturing.

Kilometroverde® - Lucca.

The Cartiere Carrara Group celebrates 150 years of history.

Kilometroverde® - Lucca.

The initiative was born in collaboration with Rete Clima, and consists of a 1-kilometre linear forestation project along the southern section of the A11 motorway between the exits of Lucca Est and Capannori, which runs along the company’s plants.
Trees and shrubs were planted on land that used to be bare, and a typical Tuscan forest was reconstituted to replace an existing, neo-formed woodland that had been of limited value for the forest and wider ecosystem. The area was repopulated with autochthonous species of trees and shrubs, reviving a forest type historically present in the Tuscan area but now significantly reduced due to agricultural activities and industrial sites that have developed on the land over time. This type of “linear plantation” is an innovative strategy for the area, intended to have a protective function and to mitigate local environmental impacts. Kilometroverde® Lucca will take on a triple function over time: physical and visual separation barrier between land and motorway; woodland (a true and proper green lung) able to capture the particulate pollutants produced by vehicular traffic (the well-known PM); and concrete tool for a strategy to develop natural continuity with existing sections of woods.
The positive impact of this intervention is not limited to the local territory: like all new forestation initiatives, Kilometroverde® – Lucca will allow us to increase the total absorption of CO2 and contribute to mitigating the effects of global warming.

Kilometroverde® – Lucca will be certified according to the PEFC standard for Sustainable Forest Management. .

The Cartiere Carrara Group celebrates 150 years of history.

With the acquisition of the Caldaroni Group, the Cartiere Carrara Group is born, paving the way for new growth and future goals.

The Carrara family’s activities are brought back together under the aegis of Cartiere Carrara S.p.A., thus unifying their resources and consolidating their position in the industry.

Mario Carrara’s branch of the family decides to resume the activities previously excluded from the 2002 transfer, starting from Cartiera Carma, of which it had always maintained exclusive ownership. With fresh new impetus, the family re-enters the professional and consumer tissue market.

The turn of the millennium brings new opportunities. Cartoinvest is sold to the multinational SCA.

Cartoinvest becomes the exclusive licensee of the Kleenex brand for Europe, thus confirming its leadership in the European tissue market.

The Cartoinvest Group is founded, and takes control of no less than twelve companies in Italy and in Europe, further strengthening their presence and influence in the industry.

The historical plant in Pietrabuona starts its first continuous machine for tissue paper, introducing remarkable technological innovations in the manufacturing process.

The Carrara family makes its debut in the paper manufacturing business, opening a paper mill in Pietrabuona to make straw paper.