Avantium and Carlsberg cheers on agreement to scale recyclable wood fiber-based beer bottles

22 Jun 2022 --- Avantium and Carlsberg are advancing the commercialization of the Fibre Bottle, a 100% plant-based, fully recyclable beer bottle with a wood fiber outer shell and PEF lining. Carlsberg will sample 8,000 bottles across Western Europe to test performance and determine consumer satisfaction.

A spokesperson at Avantium tells PackagingInsights in an interview that “the Fibre Bottle will be an additional alternative for consumers, not a replacement.”

“Given the recyclability of cans, the reusability of refillable glass bottles, and the large-scale recycling infrastructures that are in place for these, the Fibre bottle will complement these as an additional option for consumers to choose from.”

Additionally, since the PEF used in the Fibre Bottle has a higher mechanical strength than conventional plastics, a thinner layer is needed for this barrier: thereby creating a decrease in material needed.

The two companies have signed a conditional offtake agreement to secure a fixed volume of the 100% plant-based, recyclable and “high-performance” polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate) bioplastic from Avantium’s FDCA Flagship Plant in the Netherlands.

Avantium, a renewable chemistry technology company, says it will complete this plant by 2023, and commence the commercial launch of PEF by 2024.

The bottled-up intentions
Since their partnership in 2019, Carlsberg and Avantium have collaborated in developing an environmentally sustainable complement for traditional commercial beer bottles.

Carlsberg’s Fibre Bottle features a wood fiber outer shell and PEF bioplastic inner lining.The company claims that the lining importantly protects the taste and fizziness of the beer. This is mutually beneficial for the shelf life of the product and the company itself, since recent Innova Market Insights data show that nearly 30% of consumers in western Europe are not willing to compromise the freshness of a product to reduce plastic usage in packaging.

“The challenge was to find the most effective barrier for the Fibre Bottle. Avantium’s PEF has excellent barrier properties (the ability to withstand gas permeability through the bottle) needed for beverages such as beer,” the spokesperson explains.

“To be more specific: PEF’s oxygen barrier is 10 times better than PET, PEF’s CO2 barrier is 6 to 10 times better than PET, and PEF’s water barrier is twice as good as PET’s.”

Carlsberg aims to use the PEF resin for other various packaging applications.

The summer distribution
A total of 8,000 units of the most recent design of the Fibre Bottle will be issued across eight western European markets this summer. It will be the largest trial Carlsberg has ever conducted.

The company will distribute the bottles at selected summer events, including festivals, flagship events, and product sampling targets to gather feedback from consumers, customers and stakeholders.

Feedback on such a large scale is paramount in the design of the next generation of Fibre Bottles and Carlsberg’s goal to make the packaging solution a commercial reality, the company stresses.

However, Munch explains that “identifying and producing PEF, as a competent functional barrier for beer, has been one of our greatest challenges: thus the pilot will serve an even greater purpose in testing the production, performance, and recycling of this product at scale.”

“It is a truly exciting milestone that – for the very first time – consumers can now experience a PEF-lined beer bottle. With business partners such as Carlsberg Group, Avantium can further scale and build the PEF value chain, meeting the growing global demand for circular and renewable material solutions,” adds Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium.

“This is what the material transition is about: ensuring that consumers can get access to novel and sustainable products at scale,” he concludes.

By Mieke Meintjes

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