Coca-Cola in Europe announces upcoming trial for first paper bottle prototype

Coca-Cola in Europe is to trial its first ever paper bottle prototype. The move marks a further step in fulfilling The Coca-Cola Company’s global vision of achieving a “World Without Waste”, in which the Company has pledged to ensure all of its packaging is collected, recycled or re-used by 2030. 

The new paper bottle prototype has been developed through a partnership between scientists at the Coca-Cola Research and Development Laboratories in Brussels and The Paper Bottle Company (Paboco).

The technology developed by Paboco is designed to create 100% recyclable bottles made of sustainably sourced wood with a bio-based material barrier capable of resisting liquids, CO2 and oxygen, and suitable for liquid goods such as carbonated and still drinks, beauty products and more.  The current prototype consists of a paper shell with a recyclable* plastic lining and cap. The ultimate goal is a bottle that can be recycled as paper.

The trial is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of this year and will involve the Company’s plant-based AdeZ drink being offered to 2,000 consumers in Hungary, through a partnership with Kifli.hu - one of Hungary’s fastest growing online grocery retailers.

“AdeZ seemed to be the perfect fit for our paper bottle prototype”, said Katalin Halász, Coca-Cola’s Nutrition Category Marketing Director Europe. “AdeZ is a plant-based drink and its brand purpose is to ‘make positive change easy’. AdeZ consumers often have a keen interest in sustainability and new developments and innovations in this area. So for us, AdeZ stood out as the right brand, the right drink and the right consumers for us to trial our paper bottle prototype with”, she explained.

The launch is an important step in seeing how the paper bottle performs and how consumers react, according to Coca-Cola Europe’s Stijn Franssen, R&D Packaging Innovation Manager.

The paper bottle prototype is 100% recyclable* and currently consists of a paper shell, with a recyclable plastic lining and cap. Mr Franssen said the Company’s partnership with Paboco is focused on developing a paper bottle than can be fully recycled as paper. 

“This trial will provide us with invaluable insight and feedback”, said Mr Franssen. “We will get to see how the paper bottle prototype performs as packaging and what consumers think and feel about it. 

This is an exciting step forward for us, as it means we’re out of the lab and into the real world. So for the first time, consumers will actually be drinking one of our products from a potentially new type of paper packaging”, he added.

* where technology is available