Paper secures pole position: Coca-Cola unveils first prototype for paper bottles
Thomas Reiner | 30.11.2020
Even though the solution isn‘t yet final, it shows how attractive paper still is as a substitute for plastic. As long as the plastic cycles are not closed and unresolved questions about the recyclability of plastics continue to dominate, the search for alternative solutions will continue. And paper is in a pole position in this process.
In cooperation with Paboco, Coca-Cola has presented a prototype for a “first generation paper bottle”. The bottle cannot yet do without a plastic lining and a plastic cap, but it is already 100 percent recyclable. Even though the solution is not yet final, it does show how attractive paper still is in the substitution of plastic. There is no end in sight – until the plastic cycle is closed.
For its paper bottle project, Coca-Cola has teamed up with the Danish company Paboco, which calls itself “The Paper Bottle Company”. According to Coca-Cola, the prototype now presented is only an intermediate step on the way to developing a beverage bottle made of 100 percent paper that can be disposed of and reused in the waste paper cycle.
The company is fundamentally convinced of paper as a packaging material for beverage bottles and expects it to play a role in the future.
This assessment impressively reflects the increased and further growing importance of paper in the plastics debate. And it is only logical. As long as the plastics cycles are not closed and unresolved questions about the recyclability of plastics continue to dominate, the search for alternative solutions will continue. And paper is in a pole position in this process.
