Carlsberg testing paper beer bottles | Progresiv
Carlsberg has unveiled the latest innovation in sustainable packaging – a paper beer bottle. 
The Danish brewing giant has been involved in the development of two research prototypes of the Green Fibre Bottle. Both are made from sustainably sourced wood fibres, 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% bio-based PEF polymer film barrier. The prototypes will be used to test the barrier technology with Carlsberg stating its ultimate aim was to create a 100% 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’ve 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.”
Carlsberg began developing the bottle made from wood fibres in 2015 alongside innovation experts EcoXpac, packaging company BillerudKorsnäs and post-doctoral researchers from the Technical University of Denmark. The brewer revealed that these combined efforts have resulted in the founding of a new company called Paboco, which is 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 leading global companies to advance sustainable packaging and reduce the environmental impact of products.
Carlsberg has been developing a number of sustainable packaging innovations over the last couple of years, including recycled shrink film, greener label ink and Snap Pack, a solution that holds cans together using glue instead of plastic rings. (www.kamcity.com)
