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Danish brewery group Carlsberg has presented two types of paper bottles, which were developed by the Paper Bottle Company (Paboco). That joint venture’s objective is to develop a fully recyclable paper bottle.
High barrier
The newest member of Paboco is bioplastics producer Avantium, which is helping Carlsberg to develop a paper beer bottle. By applying a thin layer of PEF (polyethylene furanoate) to the bottles, they are given a so-called ‘high barrier’; a property that is necessary for storing and preserving both beer and carbonated soft drinks.
Paboco was founded in 2015 and is a joint venture between Danish packaging material developer BillerudKorsnäs and Austrian bottle manufacturing specialist Alpla. Several other companies have since joined the project, such as L’Oréal and Coca-Cola.
Prototypes
At a conference, Carlsberg has presented two prototypes of paper bottles: one of them included a layer of PET, while the other was made using a layer of Avantium’s PEF. However, the bottles will not be sold soon: “We are working on a product that is viable and that is also suitable for the consumer market in terms of price. It is too early to say when we will come to that position”, Myriam Shingleton, Vice President for Development at Carlsberg, said to Belgian newspaper ‘De Standaard’. “I am sure it will take a few more years.”
By using paper bottles, Carlsberg wants to reduce its ecological footprint. Glass bottles are already excellent in terms of re-usability, but their main disadvantage is that they are quite heavy, which means that transporting them requires a great deal of energy.
