Alcoholic beverage company, Carlsberg, on October 14 announced the “world’s first paper beer bottle” made from sustainably-sourced wood fibres that is both 100 per cent bio-based and fully recyclable.
Carlsberg Group unveiled two new research prototypes of its Green Fibre Bottle, which are the ‘first paper bottles to contain beer’. The group also announced that it has been joined by other leading global companies who are united in their vision of developing sustainable packaging through the advancement of paper bottle technology.
“The developments are a continuation of Carlsberg Group’s sustainable packaging innovation journey and a key part of its sustainability programme, together towards zero, including its commitment to zero carbon emissions at its breweries and a 30 per cent reduction in its full value chain carbon footprint by 2030,” a company statement said.
The two new research prototypes are made from sustainably-sourced wood fibre, are fully recyclable and have an inner barrier to allow the bottles to contain beer. One prototype uses a thin recycled PET polymer film barrier, and the other a 100 per cent bio-based PEF polymer film barrier.
These prototypes will be used to test the barrier technology as Carlsberg Group seeks a solution to achieve their ultimate ambition of a 100 per cent bio-based bottle without polymers.
Myriam Shingleton, Vice President Group Development at Carlsberg Group, said: “We continue to innovate across all our packaging formats, and we are pleased with the progress we have made on the Green Fibre Bottle so far. While we are not completely there yet, the two prototypes are an important step towards realising our ultimate ambition of bringing this breakthrough to market. Innovation takes time and we will continue to collaborate with leading experts in order to overcome remaining technical challenges, just as we did with our plastic-reducing Snap Pack.”
Carlsberg Group kicked off the project to develop a bottle made from sustainably sourced wood fibres, the ‘Green Fibre Bottle’, in 2015 alongside ecoXpac, packaging company BillerudKorsnäs, and post-doctoral researchers from the Danish Technical University, supported by Innovation Fund Denmark. These combined efforts have resulted in the emergence of Paboco, the Paper Bottle Company – a joint venture between BillerudKorsnäs and bottle manufacturing specialist Alpla. Carlsberg group will now be joined by The Coca-Cola Company, The Absolut Company and L’Oréal in a paper bottle community – launched on October 14 by Paboco.
Gittan Schiöld, interim CEO of Paboco said: “It is all about the team! We are collaborating across the value chain, sharing the risks and are united in our vision that the paper bottle will become a reality and fundamentally change this industry for good.”
