Last month, the Carlsberg Group announced the largest trial yet of the new Fiber Bottle, where we will be bringing the bio-based Fiber Bottle to consumers for the first time. Critical to accelerating our ambition to commercialize this beer bottle, this pilot project will be carried out on 8,000 fibre bottles in eight Western European markets (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, UK, Poland, Germany and France) sampling. Its paper bottles will soon be available for consumers to try in Europe.
The second-generation Pulp Molding Fiber Bottle is a pione ering packaging solution for beer packaging, consisting of a plant-based PEF polymer liner (approximately 45%) and a wood fiber shell (approximately 55%). Together, these natural materials make the bottle fully bio-based (excluding caps) and recyclable (including caps). As technology evolves, so does the bottle design and material composition.
Tthe Pulp Molding Paper Bottle Community further progress with the next generation pulp molding paper bottle – reveals new groundbreaking paper closure! In May 2021 The first prototype of the next generation paper bottle. What is the progress since then?
We have taken this bottle from development to realization – building the means of production to make next gen bottles a reality from 2023.
The pulp molding paper closure moves us closer to our target to develop a recyclable and fully biobased paper bottle.
he past year we have been focusing on the application method of the barrier coating on the inside of the paper bottle. We have our first coating line in place enabling production of more bottles for quality testing of our pulp molding brand’s products and prepare for market introduction in 2023.
What is the barrier made of?
This pulp molding paper bottle generation has a thin PE coating suitable for products that need a good water vapor barrier. We will target to replace the PE with a biobased version to get another step closer to the vision of fully biobased and recyclable packaging Carbonated beverages and more sensitive products are a challenge for packaging.
To overcome such challenges, we are further developing the barrier material. The important first step is to ensure product quality - meaning a continuous layer of coating material applied across the inside surface of the bottle without voids that can contain liquids over a longer period of time.
So,it is a plastic barrier?
Is it recyclable? Our primary target is to ensure recyclability and repulpability of the paper fibers, a bottle with low carbon footprint and use as little barrier material as possible and still ensure good product quality.
Yes, this version has a thin PE coating that is a common barrier material for paper in the recycling stream with high availability and known barrier properties. But with our new coating technology, we are of course testing other biobased barrier materials and properties. Our innovation journey will never stop, and we will always advance to improve our sustainability footprint.
We are very proud to share the next generation bottles with a fitting fiber closure. This sets another milestone in our defined development journey towards a fully fiber based bottle in every hand. Next, we will startup our developed coating line and build manufacturing equipment to enable mass production for market introduction in 2023.
Tell us more about the paper closure?
This is a groundbreaking development. In a group of development partners, we are prototyping a recyclable paper closure that fit paper threaded neck. Blue Ocean Closures are the first to develop this innovative concept for fiber-based screw cap solutions in an industrial capacity. Together we achieve this through excellence in material know-how and a cost-effective proprietary production concept.
The design is a combination of a thin top-seal barrier layer, possible to combine with different type of filled goods and a body made of sustainably sourced fiber material.
Can it be screwed on directly on the paper bottle?
Yes,this has been a clear target and why we have put a lot of efforts on developing a paper threaded neck to both avoid adding process steps and to maximize the fiber material as much as possible.
It's thrilling to also work on a paper closure -it just makes sense, doesn't it? We are minimizing plastic content with every development step, and to bring in a fiber based cap is the logical next step. The combination, our paper bottle and this closure looks and feels amazing, and I can't wait to give this into the hands of consumers.
When will this next version hit the market?
We are targeting to start to roll out this next generation customized to our pulp molding brands in 2023. Cosmetics, home care and still drinks will be among the first to market, but we keep our eyes out for other are as that could benefit from these innovation results.
If the pulp molding paper closure development takes longer we will initially use standard closure solutions depending on the product that can be applied directly on our paper threaded neck. Such as screw caps, pump dispensers, peel off lids etc.depending on the need for the brand and product.
What is the CO₂ footprint of this next paper bottle generation?
We are updating our LCA to show what paper bottle production looks like at its starting scale – We look forward to sharing this as soon as it is final. But we have high expectations on a low CO₂ footprint since pulp molding only uses FSC certified wood fibers, produces low weighted rigid paper bottles with high recyclability rate in the paper recycling stream.
We work to contribute to raise the overall recycling rate of pulp molding fibre-based packaging to 90% by 2030. Fibre-based packaging is already a vital contributor to the circular economy. According to Eurostat, fibre-based packaging has the highest recycling rate in volume (82%), above that of other materials, such as metal (80%), glass (75%), or plastic (42%).
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