Tiger Tim

Tiger Tim Products Ltd, based on the Rhosesmor Industrial Estate near Mold, is the largest manufacturer of firelighters in the world. They produce over 70 million consumer units of firelighters, 5 million of barbecue cubes and ½ million bottles of barbecue gel, all from their production plant in North Wales. 

They have been working with the Industrial Biopolymer Knowledge Transfer Center on ways to improve their products and make them more environmentally friendly. The KTC is a collaborative project between Bangor University and Glyndwr University; it is a Welsh Government funded initiative called A4B. which provides support for innovation within Welsh companies It combines expertise from the Center for Water Soluble Polymers at Glyndwr, and the Biocomposites Center at Bangor University.

Firelighters, barbecue cubes and gels are traditionally based on petrochemicals and the company is keen to develop more environmentally friendly products for the future.  As a result of the work done by the KTC, Tiger Tim have been able to repackage their flagship BBQ gel product so that it no longer requires an R65 classification, in layman’s terms this means that the product poses no risk to consumers if accidentally swallowed. Tiger Tim embrace health and safety improvements and their production plant meets the most stringent quality and safety requirements and has ISO 9001:2008 and BRC accreditation at level 2; one of the highest standards set by UK retailers.

Anna Davies, Technology Translator, Industrial Biopolymers KTC, - “The KTC is a fantastic resource for local businesses; it gives them access to university research facilities and provides information about funding sources available for projects. It’s great to see a local company investing in innovation and reducing their impact on the environment. The project with Tiger Tim has already yielded great news about classifications and we are hoping for lots more exciting outcomes in the future”.

Ken Grant, Tiger Tim Products Ltd, – “In a world with increasingly tighter legislation it is imperative that our products comply. Here at Tiger Tim we are very conscious of our carbon footprint and are using the expertise of the Knowledge Transfer Center to ensure our products are both safe to use for consumers, and have little impact on the world around us. There are a number of new greener product opportunities we are currently looking at and although the project is very early stage we are hoping for some exciting developments in the near future”.

Dr Rob Elias, IBP KTC commercial manager is working with Ken Grant to look at developing new products in the future. “The KTC is all about helping companies develop their R&D capability. We are able to collaborate and develop new ideas and help Ken get funding to achieve his aims. Working with them has also helped us put some of new analytical equipment to a real practical uses which is great”, commented Rob