Carlsberg unveils two paper bottle prototypes

Made from sustainably sourced wood fibres, Carlsberg Group’s Green Fibre Bottle is said to be 100 percent bio-based and fully recyclable. The group announced it has been joined by other leading global companies that are united in their vision to develop sustainable packaging through the advancement of paper bottle technology.

These developments are a continuation of Carlsberg’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 percent reduction in its full-value-chain carbon footprint by 2030.

Carlsberg has unveiled two new research prototypes of the Green Fibre Bottle. Both are made from sustainably sourced wood fibres 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 percent bio-based PEF polymer film barrier. These prototypes will be used to test the barrier technology as Carlsberg seeks a solution to achieving its ultimate ambition of a 100 percent bio-based bottle without polymers.

“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,” said Myriam Shingleton, Vice President Group Development at Carlsberg Group.

The project began in 2015 alongside packaging solutions provider EcoXpac, packaging company BillerudKorsnäs and post-doctoral researchers from the Technical University of Denmark, supported by Innovation Fund Denmark.

The combined efforts have resulted in the emergence of Paboco®, the paper bottle company – a joint venture between BillerudKorsnäs and bottle manufacturing specialist ALPLA.

Carlsberg will now be joined by The Coca-Cola Company, The Absolut Company and L’Oréal in a paper bottle community – launched by Paboco®. The community aims to unite global companies and experts with the vision of advancing sustainable packaging, offering high-quality products with reduced environmental impact.

“We are driven by our constant pursuit of better, to create more sustainable packaging solutions that help people to live more sustainable lives. Sometimes that means completely rethinking how things are done – pushing the boundaries of existing technologies and overcoming technical challenges as they present themselves,” Shingleton continued.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company has also unveiled a recent “world-first” prototype of a bottle made using recovered and recycled marine plastics, demonstrating that ocean debris could be used in recycled packaging for food or drinks. These 300 samples are said to be the first-ever plastic bottles made using marine litter to be successfully recycled and reused in food and drink packaging. The bottles used 25 percent recycled marine plastic retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea and beaches.

The sample bottles are the result of a partnership between Ioniqa Technologies, Indorama Ventures, Mares Circulares (Circular Seas) and The Coca-Cola Company.