PulPac to cut single-use plastic in Japan with Dry Molded Fiber tech bottles

28 Oct 2022 --- PulPac has been granted a patent in Japan covering bottle-forming using its Dry Molded Fiber technology to replace current plastic options to combat waste. The company’s Dry Molded Fiber is now protected with 32 different patent families, more than 150 national patents, and 60 pending patent applications.

Dry Molded Fiber was invented, patented and licensed to packaging manufacturers by PulPac. 

The technology is designed to propel the circular economy by using renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low-cost and high-functioning fiber-based packaging.

The latest evolution of the technology is incorporating it into single-use bottles to supersede plastic and work toward a more environmentally sustainable packaging market.

“The market has matured, and Dry Molded Fiber is now seen as a viable concept for bottles. We have made several trials for different concepts, and we ended up with several different possibilities that we have tried to cover in new patent applications,” Peter Ekwall, chief intellectual property officer at PulPac, tells PackagingInsights.

PulPac continues innovating with its Dry Molded Fiber expanding to an eco-friendly single-use bottle solution. Fiber-based bottle 
PulPac’s technology creates new fiber bottles up to ten times faster than traditional fiber-forming methods. The process saves significant amounts of water and energy, resulting in up to 80% lower CO2 footprint compared to alternatives at a similar cost as plastic.

The received patent covers the bottle design and manufacturing of bottles but in a continuous manufacturing line. The granted claims describe a cellulose blank containing less than 45% water weight being arranged and formed in a forming mold using heat and isostatic pressure.

The patent protects both bottle-forming and single-use objects traditionally made with plastics and wet forming. PulPac got the patent in Japan before other countries responded, but it expects to continue getting approval globally. 

“Patent applications are prosecuted with different speeds in different jurisdictions, and Japan just happened to be quick. We have corresponding applications in other jurisdictions that we expect to generate further grants,” Ekwall says. 

Plastic problems
According to the Huffington Post, 80% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills in the US. Meanwhile, 2.6 billion bottles in Japan are incinerated, sent to landfills or lost to waterways and oceans annually. It takes up to 1,000 years for a single plastic bottle to decompose, states the BBC.

“The world consumes massive amounts of plastic bottles, which are a big contributor to plastic pollution. Only around 30-40% of all plastic bottles across the EU and US are collected for recycling today. The average for paper and cardboard packaging is about 80%,” Ekwall voices.

“The global production of plastic packaging amounts to almost 80 million metric tons yearly. If we replace 1 million metric tons of plastic with Dry Molded Fiber, that will save up to 5 million tons of CO2 equivalents – which is roughly equal to the annual emission from the Swedish Steel Industry.” PulPac 's CIPO, Peter Ekwall talks with us about receiving a patent in Japan for new fiber-based bottles.

“Even if our present focus is replacing the single-use products that are industrially ready, bottles are an interesting application for Dry Molded Fiber. We made the first bottles in our lab in 2018, and some of our early patents are related to bottles,” continues Ekwall. 

Future of fiber
The fiber-based industry has been experiencing a massive uptick in businesses replacing plastics with fiber-based materials in efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based resources and advertise their carbon emissions reductions. In 2021, Innova Market Insights labeled this trend the “Fiber-based Frenzy.”  

PulPac recently implemented its Dry Molded Fiber technology to create cutlery from “almost no water” to enter existing paper-recycling streams. The company has also been granted financial support from Nordic Barrier Coating to continue the development of 100% bio-based, plastic and PFAS-free barriers and materials.  

With its Dry Molded Fiber, PulPac has also innovated in the quick-service restaurant packaging industry. It has created coffee cup lids, utensils and more.  

“We have a number of applications on bottles covering different aspects. We believe Dry Molded Fiber can become a new global standard for sustainable fiber-based packaging,” Ekwall concludes. 

 By Sabine Waldeck