The Coca-Cola paper bottle

Everyone is bringing out paper products. The ongoing negative public discussions on plastic have encouraged more and more brand owners to switch to alternative forms of packaging, such as paper-based packaging. In February 2021, the beverage giant Coca-Cola declared that they would bring a prototype paper bottle onto the European market. The paper bottle is completely recyclable and is finished with a plant-based coating that is liquid-resistant and is an excellent barrier against carbon dioxide and oxygen. These paper bottles are suitable for liquids such as carbonated and still beverages, cosmetic products and other contents. The cap is also 100% recyclable.

In the second quarter of 2021, the vegan snacking drink AdeZ from Coca-Cola, packaged in paper bottles, is set to be handed out to 2,000 consumers to test the market in Hungary, in partnership with Kifli.hu – one of the fastest-growing online food retailers. This launch is an important step on the path to finding out how the prototype paper bottle fares and how consumers react to it, according to Stijn Franssen, the Packaging Innovation Manager at Coca-Cola in Europe.

The Coca-Cola paper bottle was developed together with Paboco, a joint venture between BillerudKorsnäss and the bottle manufacturer Alpla. It is not the first paper bottle that the coalition of these two companies has brought out. Together with Carlsberg, Paboco started working on the “Green Fibre Bottle” in 2015. At the end of 2019, Carlsberg put the first paper bottle in the world on the market. Two prototypes were developed simultaneously: The first used a thin, recycled PET polymer film barrier, the other implemented a completely plant-based PEF polymer film barrier. Carlsberg’s ultimate goal is to develop a 100% plant-based bottle without any fossil-based plastics. Brands such as Absolut Vodka, Johnnie Walker and L’Oréal are also already using paper bottles.