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Oct 07, 2023

PA Consulting and PulPac form Bottle Collective

PA Consulting (PA), London, and PulPac, a Swedish research and development company, have launched the Bottle Collective to create a fiber bottle alternative to help minimize the use of single-use

PA Consulting (PA), London, and PulPac, a Swedish research and development company, have launched the Bottle Collective to create a fiber bottle alternative to help minimize the use of single-use plastic bottles in the food, drink, consumer health and fast-moving consumer goods industries.

According to a news release from PA, the Bottle Collective is committed to industrializing a recyclable, high-speed, low-cost dry molded fiber bottle process. PA says this technology will be a viable alternative to single-use and commodity plastic bottles and applicable for multiple products and categories.

"Plastic bottles are the holy grail of plastic replacement,” Sanna Fager, chief commercial officer at PulPac. “They have an estimated annual production volume of up to 500 billion pieces and are a significant source of plastic pollution worldwide.”

Dry molded fiber uses renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low-cost, high-performance fiber-based packaging. The patented manufacturing process uses less carbon dioxide than plastic and conventional wet molding options. PA says almost no water is used in manufacturing to create a highly versatile container mold for consumer companies. For instance, fiber bottles could work with water, dairy, noncarbonated soft drinks, adult beverages, detergent, skincare, hair care and more. Bespoke shape, size and decoration capability also will allow for the full expression of a brand's equity.

PA Consulting's mechanical engineering, design, automation and material sciences teams, along with PulPac, have developed the first functioning prototypes. Multiplepartners have joined the collective to continue developing and scaling fiber bottles by 2025, but none

"This will make the most of our renewable resources while delivering a significant positive impact to reduce today's single-use plastic pollution,” Tony Perrotta, Pulpac partnership lead at PA Consulting. "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."

Recycling Today has contacted PA Consulting for further comment.