Our Heritage

Our Story

Filtrona has a long and distinguished history, dating back to 1854 when Moritz Bunzl opened his haberdashery business in Bratislava under the brand name “Bunzl”.

In the late 1920s, Bunzl began commercial filter production and by 1927, had formalised its manufacturing process.

The first dedicated facility was established in Jarrow, UK in 1948. Bunzl grew internationally by establishing a presence in the US in the 1950s and expanding into Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. The name Filtrona was adopted in 1979 and was also adopted by the Group of manufacturing companies that were demerged from Bunzl in 2005.

In 2013, the Company changed its name to Essentra plc to reflect its diversification into industrial components. In November 2022, the successful filters and tapes divisions were acquired by new owner Centaury Management Limited and rebranded as Filtrona again to acknowledge its rich legacy of innovative products.

Today, Filtrona has 11 manufacturing facilities, three Innovation Centres, one accredited laboratory, and a Centre of Excellence focused on sustainability. We are truly a global partner that helps our customers with an extensive range of solutions for filters, tapes and scientific services.

Our history is distinguished and our future is promising.

Our Story Timeline

Tapes business established in 1911 by Percy Philip (P. P.) Payne, manufacturing cotton tapes for the local textile industry.

Boris Aivaz patented the first cigarette filter tip, complete with a manufacturing machine. Aivaz approached Hugo Bunzl for assistance, and was given the R&D support of Bunzl’s paper mills.

First filter-tipped cigarette launched in Switzerland.
The first move into cigarette filter production came in the 1920s. Perfection in production was achieved by 1927 when Bunzl & Biach agreed to allow Aivaz (Boris Aivaz was the inventor of the cigarette filter device using crepe paper) to further develop his idea at the company’s Ortmann factory.

Bunzl & Biach (British) Ltd was established in the United Kingdom. Within a few years, global sales boomed and the company was selling up to 370 tons of paper every year to 15 countries.

The Bunzls established a new business in London, called Tissue Papers Ltd.
The upheaval in Central Europe forced the Jewish Bunzl family to flee Austria in the late 1930s. Most of the family emigrated to the United Kingdom and United States. Forced to rebuild from nothing, the Bunzls, then led by Hugo, George, and Martin Bunzl, founded a new company, Tissue Papers Ltd. in 1940.

Cigarette Component Ltd was established.
The year when Cigarette Component Ltd was formed as a subsidiary of Tissue Papers Ltd to focus on the filter business.

First dedicated filter manufacturing plant established in Jarrow, United Kingdom.

Rippatape® was invented - the first tear tape based on cotton fibres, used for easy opening of boxes and sacks.

- Cigarette Components was licensed by Eastman to produce acetate filter rods.

- Established American Filtrona.

1971 - Established new manufacturing plant in Thailand.

1977 – Established new manufacturing plant in Indonesia.

Cigarette Components was renamed as Filtrona.

Established Scientific Services in the United Kingdom to provide a range of commercial testing services for customers to meet regulatory requirements and support product development.

Self-adhesive tear tape was used on cigarette packaging for the first time.

Commitment to the Tobacco Industry
Extensive investments in new, efficient manufacturing equipment were made in the 1990s to early 2000s. Multiple plants were opened in Greensboro (1993), India (1994), Jordan (1995), Venezuela (1999), Richmond (2000), and Paraguay (2001).

Bunzl acquired P.P. Payne's tear tapes business as a complementary business to filters.

Spinoff of Filtrona plc as an independent company. P.P. Payne was also demerged from Bunzl and formed part of the Filtrona Group where it was renamed to Payne.