PA Consulting (London, United Kingdom) and PulPac, the Swedish R&D and IP company (Gothenburg) behind the proprietary production process of Dry Molded Fiber, have launched the Bottle Collective.

The Collective will create a fibre bottle alternative to help minimise the use of single-use plastic bottles in food, drink, consumer health and FMCG industries.

The Bottle Collective is committed to industrializing a recyclable, high-speed, low-cost Dry Molded Fiber bottle process. This technology will be a viable alternative to single-use and commodity plastic bottles and applicable for multiple products and categories. PA’s mechanical engineering, design, automation, and material sciences teams, along with PulPac, have already developed the first functioning prototypes. Multiple leading brand partners have already joined the Collective to continue developing and scaling fibre bottles by 2025.

Dry Molded Fiber uses renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low-cost, high-performance fibre-based packaging. The patented manufacturing process uses less CO2 than plastic and conventional wet moulding options. Almost no water is used in manufacturing to create a highly versatile container mould for consumer companies. For instance, fibre bottles could work with water, dairy, non-carbonated soft drinks, adult beverages, detergent, skin care, hair care, etc. Bespoke shape, size, and decoration capability will also allow for full expression of a brand’s equity.

“We have the technology. We have a functioning prototype and process. We are now ready to enter the next stage – demonstration that our Dry Molded Fiber bottles are capable of being produced at the speed, volume, and cost necessary to match the massive scale of this global industry challenge”, said Tony Perrotta, PulPac Partnership Lead at PA.

Plastic bottles are the holy grail of plastic replacement. They have an estimated annual production volume of up to 500 billion pieces and are a significant source of plastic pollution worldwide”, added Sanna Fager, Chief Commercial Officer at PulPac. “Backed by strong partnerships across the value chain, we can bring competitive unit cost into the fiber-bottle space, enabling the shift away from today’s single use plastic. We encourage all brands and relevant industry actors to join this force for sustainable change”. AT

www.paconsulting.com
www.pulpac.com