Absolut Vodka is rolling out a three-month trial for its single-mould paper bottle in Tesco stores in Manchester, UK. The company calls it "a significant milestone" on its journey to create a 100 per cent bio-based bottle and reduce its CO2 emissions. But in social media pushback, it is being called out as greenwashing.
[Ed's note: This story has been updated on 9 June, with additional comments from Absolut*.]
Absolut has developed the paper-based bottle as part of a wider collaboration with Paboco (the Paper Bottle Company) and its community of global brands, including The Coca-Cola Company, Carlsberg, P&G and L’Oréal, stating that they are working collectively to help the drinks and packaging industries "push the boundaries for sustainable packaging".
The company says this is the first time such paper-based bottles will have been sold commercially in-store by a global spirits company, and that it represents an important milestone for Absolut, which aims to become a carbon neutral brand by 2030.
Absolut says its trial aims to gain insights from consumers, retailers and supply chain partners to inform the next steps towards a commercially viable, fully bio-based bottle. It will test how the paper-based bottle transports and how consumers perceive it. Unlike the initial pilots, which were for Absolut Mixt ready-to-drink with low ABVs (5 per cent), this bottle will be tested using the higher 40 per cent ABV of Absolut Vodka.
The 500ml-sized single-mould paper bottles will be sold in 22 Tesco stores across Greater Manchester throughout the summer. Manchester was selected because of the recycling infrastructure available, and high recycling rates recorded in the community. The company says the bottle can be recycled through normal household waste.
These first-generation single-mould bottles are made from 57 per cent paper with what is described as "an integrated barrier of recyclable plastic".
The plastic component, however, is as high as 43 per cent, and is made from polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). As the R&D continues, the aim is to achieve a next generation of this bottle with 15 per cent high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the plastic/ barrier component.
Features of the next iteration are promoted on Paboco's website, which notes that with a 15 per cent HDPE barrier component, the paper bottle is recyclable in the paper stream. Paboco says that a paper bottle can reduce emissions by up to 32 per cent, compared to solutions used in the industry today. A graph showing results of its LCA study to substantiate this statement, shows Paboco compared its next gen bottles with 'average' glass, plastic and aluminium bottles and fibre cartons currently in market.
"With carbon uptake considered Paboco next gen in scaled production is expected to significantly outperform traditional liquid containers," the company says.
Of course, when it comes to recyclability, glass bottles have a good track record, with high rates of recycling achieved in some markets. But drinks companies are pursuing the paper bottle innovation in large part because of its lighter weight compared to glass.
According to Absolut, paper bottles are eight times lighter and easier to carry, and it envisages this as a convenience for consumers who will use the paper bottles in out-of-home occasions such as festivals.
Elin Furelid, director of future packaging at Absolut, said: "This is a step closer towards our vision of a fully bio-based bottle. We are exploring packaging that has a completely different value proposition. Paper is tactile; it’s beautiful; it’s authentic; it’s light. That was our starting point. But this is not just an idea on paper."
Charl Bassil, global VP Absolut, said: "Absolut Vodka has a rich heritage of collaborations and partnerships, and the brand is working towards developing packaging solutions that consumers want and our planet needs. Absolut remains committed to a sustainable future in which it continues to mix things up, with recyclable lighter paper-based bottles to complement Absolut’s iconic glass bottles. This ground-breaking test takes Absolut a step closer to that becoming a reality."
So based on Bassil's statement, it's not that Absolut is moving away from glass bottles, rather it is seeking to provide an alternative paper-based option for different consumption occasions.
However, industry pundits say that this paper bottle format is not sustainable, and certainly not circular in its design.
Paul Foulkes-Arellano, circularity educator at Circuthon Consulting, argues: "This format is now six years into its development cycle, and they introduced a novel plastic (43 per cent PEN) with just 57 per cent pulp, requiring any purchaser to separate the pulp for the paper stream and then put the inner bottle into the landfill bin."
In a LinkedIn post that has sparked a spate of negative commentary about the Absolut paper bottle, with call outs of "greenwashing" and "#Absolutjoke", Foulkes-Arellano points out that Paboco, in its development process, is heading towards a Frugalpac Frugal Bottle "very slowly".
[Ed's note: Frugalpac's Frugal Bottle has just entered the Australian market. It is comprised of 94 per cent paper.]
He adds, "The next iteration will still have 15 per cent plastic. By the time it's ready, the glass industry will have decarbonised with hydrogen furnaces."
"Single-use non-refill is not circular, nor is it sustainable," Foulkes-Arellano stresses.
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* In a comment filed in response to the article and by way of clarification on Aboslut's approach to this development, and the recycling path for the paper bottle, Elin Furelid, director Future Packaging at Absolut, said:
"We see the move towards a more sustainable future as a joint effort with other brands and players in the industry – we are all learning from one another and there is no perfect solution yet on the market. In our case we are using a specific technique with PABOCO. The benefit of our single-mould paper bottles is that they require no post-assembly, thus reducing the amount of energy and material required during the production process – it is the paper that holds up as a bottle, rather than the inner lining.
"We’ve also been careful when choosing where we launched this initial commercial pilot to have the least environmental impact as possible. We spoke to local authorities in the Manchester area to ensure that there was the infrastructure needed for the bottles to be recycled. Consumers need only put their empty bottles into the kerbside paper and cardboard collection bin, or in a public recycling bin for paper. The paper and card from Greater Manchester is then all sent to Saica Recycled Paper Mill at Carrington in Trafford. Here it’s put through a repulping process which separates the paper and card fibre from plastic liners in the same ways as those used on sandwich packaging. The separated paper is then made into new card packaging. The plastics separated during the recycling process are used to produce the heat necessary for the process and to generate electricity which is exported to the national grid.
"We strongly believe that by putting these bottles on shelf to test and bring consumers on the journey with us, that the insight we gather will foster further innovation, not just for us but for the industry as a whole. Our commitment is to become a carbon neutral product by 2030 and we are investing in a variety of different initiatives to help us achieve our carbon reduction goal. Earlier this year we became the first global spirits brand to move to a partly hydrogen energy-fired glass furnace for large scale production of our iconic glass bottles and last year we also partnered with ecoSPIRITS to pilot a closed-loop distribution system in Hong Kong and Singapore."
