Blow moulding The
Blow moulding The biobased future of beer packaging? Fiber bottles from sustainably sourced wood-fiber could be a solution Designing zero-waste products with future lifecycles in mind provides a logical way to mitigate rising demand in a world of limited resources. The Carlsberg Circular Community is bringing partners together to develop innovative solutions that, it hopes, will benefit business, society, and the environment in equal measure. A biobased bottle from wood fiber is one of these solutions. In the future we will, both as businesses and individuals, face increasing pressure on natural resources due to rising demand for consumer goods. This, along with pressures on supply chains and cost, means that businesses that are able to use materials more efficiently will have much to gain. Carlsberg has always been good at using resources efficiently, as can be seen by their strong performance in terms of water and energy use as well as their levels of CO 2 emissions. This is clearly good for the planet, but also for business, as it reduces costs and is something that Carlsberg’s employees can take pride in. Inspired by Circular Economy concepts, last year the Danish Brewery launched the Carlsberg Circular Community (CCC) (fig. 1), a cooperation between Carlsberg and selected partners which pursues a zero-waste, beneficial society using the Cradle to Cradle ® (C2C) design framework when developing and marketing new products. The aim is to develop the next generation of packaging products which are pre-optimised for recycling and reuse, while, at the same time retaining or improving their quality and value. The approach is increasingly referred to as upcycling. The companies working together with Carlsberg are: • Rexam: Cans • Arkema: Glass bottle coatings • O-I: Glass packaging • RKW: Shrink Wrap • MWV (MeadWestvaco): Paperboard Multipacks • Petainer: PET kegs for draught beer • EcoXpac: Packaging company specialised in woodfiber To achieve the right level of C2C expertise and quality assurance, Carlsberg has partnered with EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, the institute founded by Professor Michael Braungart, who created the C2C Design Protocol together with William McDonough. EPEA contributes by both providing inspiration and technical know-how when assessing and optimising materials and processes for the Circular Economy. PARTNERS UPCYCLING OR ECOSYSTEMS RE-ENTRY RAW MATERIALS ASSESSMENT & OPTIMISATION SUPPLIERS The Green Fiber Bottle Project Better World in the Making DISPOSAL & COLLECTION Carlsberg Circular Community Inspired by Cradle-to-Cradle ® BREWING & BOTTLING KNOCK ON WOOD A biobased bottle made from sustainably sourced wood-fiber. AS GOOD AS GREEN Strong, durable material, 100% compliant with the strictest food and beverage regulations. BEHAVIOR CHANGE CONSUMERS CONSUMPTION CUSTOMERS COMMUNICATION & INFORMATION IN THE NAME OF BEER LOVE Will contribute to spreading sustainable beer love everywhere in partnership with ecoXpac. 0% ZERO WASTE Will be 100% biodegradable and generate 0% waste. Fig. 1: Fig. 2: 24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/15] Vol. 10
Blow moulding By: Jim Daniell Director, Media Relations Carlsberg Breweries A/S Copenhagen, Denmark Commenting on the CCC initiative, Professor Michael Braungart says: “Carlsberg and its partners are taking an important step on the roadmap towards creating new benefits with packaging. This co-operation is a great example of companies planning together for the future, creating solutions to the global challenges that face us all. I encourage companies to join Carlsberg in its efforts to develop innovative packaging and rethink the concept of waste.” In order to increase the reach and scale of the initiatives, Carlsberg’s target is to cooperate with 17 partners and to launch three C2C-certified products by 2017. The first certification came in January 2015, when Carlsberg, along with Rexam, obtained Cradle-to- Cradle Bronze Certification for Somersby and Carlsberg cans in the UK, underlining the strong recyclability profile of the aluminium can. The aim is to be able to provide higher quality products with restorative impacts, less input of natural resources and less waste, and to build a resilience while preparing for future growth. Biobased beer packaging innovation: The Green Fiber Bottle At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2015, Carlsberg announced an agreement to develop the world’s first fully biodegradable wood-fiber bottle for beverages. The project will be a three-year project with packaging company ecoXpac (one of the newest members of the Carlsberg Circular Community), with the additional collaboration of Innovation Fund Denmark and the Technical University of Denmark. The aim is to develop a biodegradable and biobased bottle made from sustainably sourced wood-fiber, to be known as the Green Fiber Bottle (fig. 2). All materials used in the bottle, including the cap, will be developed using bio-based and biodegradable materials – primarily, sustainably sourced wood-fibers – allowing the bottle to be responsibly degraded. The innovative impulse drying technology being used to develop the bottle aims to ensure that energy consumption during production does not exceed that used in existing product alternatives. In fact, it is estimated that final energy consumption will be lower than that required for existing HDPE and paper technologies. Though it might seem strange to drink beer from a wood-fiber bottle, the pioneers at Carlsberg have high hopes for the project, as they believe that the Fig. 3: Green Fiber Bottle Prototype – Carlsberg Group. The final bottle design will look different. This is only a prototype picture bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/15] Vol. 10 25
