World's First Dry-Mould Fibre Bottle Wins Gold At The 2024 Sustainable Food Awards

PulPac of Sweden, in partnership with London-based PA Consulting, has won the Gold Award in the Sustainable Packaging category of the 2024 Sustainable Food Awards for the world's first dry-molded fiber bottle.

The 2024 Sustainable Food Awards is organized by Ecovia Intelligence to promote organizational building and innovative applications in the sustainable food industry. The Sustainable Food Awards jury noted: "This innovative technology for developing bottles using dry-molded fibers minimizes the use of plastics in the food, beverage and related industries."

The bottle was recently packaged by partner Diageo (a foreign spirits producer) for Baileys. The bottle is made of dry-molded fiber technology and has several patents. The material is 90% paper with a thin PET liner designed for standard paper stream recycling, and consumers do not need to separate the PET liner when handling it. The package also comes with an induction-sealed foil lid and a pressure-sensitive paper label, which is hot-stamped in gold for the gold double B logo on the top of the bottle.

PulPac claims that the dry-molded fiber packaging process is 10 times faster than the traditional wet-molded fiber method, and the technology can be used for almost any three-dimensional packaging product. Supporters say that once the technology is fully promoted, it will become a way to convert renewable plant fibers into fully recyclable packaging, which can replace single-use plastics at a competitive cost. Other advantages include low energy consumption and almost no water required in the molding process. This makes the packaging highly sustainable. Preliminary screening life cycle assessment data for Baileys bottles shows that its carbon dioxide emissions will be 25% lower than current rPET packaging.

Ewan Andrew, president of global supply chain and procurement and chief sustainability officer of Diageo, said: "Our approach is to pursue progress rather than perfection. We know that packaging needs to evolve with consumer needs and technological advances. We believe that we can meet consumers' increasingly sustainable needs through our design and innovation, combining high-quality products with more sustainable solutions."