A 45-year story that is just beginning

To tell the story of Plasticolors, we need to go back more than 45 years.

In 1969, after completing his degree in Electromechanical Engineering at the Porto Superior Institute of Engineering, its founder – António Gomes Teixeira – was deployed to Mozambique for military service. There, he had his first encounter with the PVC sector, establishing a company in 1973 with a friend that primarily produced shutters for construction. After the decolonization he returned to Portugal and, in 1978, opened another company: Ingroplás. Founded by three partners and headquartered in Murça, his hometown, the company focused on manufacturing PVC, polyethylene, and polypropylene pipes for the construction and agricultural industries, PVC shutters, and flexible polyethylene packaging. Ingroplás was the first plastic material transformation firm in the northern interior.

Exactly two decades later, engineer Gomes Teixeira decided to create Plasticolors, a company formed with his three daughters, integrating two generations into the capital and management structure. In its early years, the company’s activity was exclusively focused on marketing plastic packaging (bags, films, and sleeves). In 2006, Plasticolors became the primary company and brand, encompassing the manufacturing, sale, and distribution of plastic packaging and products.

Nowadays, Plasticolors boasts a wide array of products in its portfolio (plastic bags for collecting hospital, urban, and household waste, bags for packaging food products, handle bags with or without printing, plastic films, and sleeves for various uses, reusable or disposable aprons, among others), with commercial presence in both the national and international markets. The company’s activity covers all phases of flexible plastic packaging production: extrusion, coextrusion (multilayers), flexographic printing, and thermo-welding cutting. The main raw materials used are the high-density polyethylene and the low-density polyethylene and recycled materials whenever possible. In fact, the company has recycled its own waste since its inception. It also produces using biopolymers, although the market still shows little demand for this material due to its high cost.

Plasticolors has been recognized as a company that demonstrates the best performances, marking Portugal’s competitive capacity. In 2021, it received the PME Excellence status, and in 2022, it was honored with the PME Leader seal, distinctions that highlight the team’s hard work and effort.

After 45 years, António Gomes Teixeira is preparing to pass the baton to his daughters, the generation now assuming a greater role in the company’s management, continuing the tradition of excellence.