Carlsberg unveils beer bottle prototypes made from ‘paper’

Carlsberg has unveiled two prototype beer bottles made from wood fibres and lined with polymer barriers.

The brewer said the research prototypes of its Green Fibre Bottle are the first “paper bottles” to contain beer.

One bottle 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 as Carlsberg seeks a solution to achieve its ambition of a 100% bio-based bottle without polymers.

“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,” said Myriam Shingleton, vice president group development at Carlsberg Group.

“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 kicked off the project to develop a bottle made from sustainably sourced wood fibres in 2015 alongside paper bottle company EcoXpac, packaging firm BillerudKorsnäs and researchers from the Danish Technical University.

These combined efforts have resulted in the emergence of paper bottle company Paboco – a joint venture between BillerudKorsnäs and bottle manufacturer Alpla.

Carlsberg said it will now be joined by The Coca-Cola Company, The Absolut Company and L’Oréal in a “paper bottle community” launched today by Paboco.

Shingleton continued: “The work with our partners since 2015 on the Green Fibre Bottle illustrates that this kind of innovation can happen when we work together. We’re delighted that other like-minded companies have now joined us as part of Paboco’s paper bottle community. Partnerships such as these, ones that are united by a desire to create sustainable innovations, are the best way to bring about real change.

“We’re 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.”

Last year, Carlsberg rolled out the Snap Pack, a technology that glues cans together and reduces the amount of plastic used in traditional multi-packs of beer by up to 76%.