Denmark’s Carlsberg Breweries set the twittersphere on fire recently when it announced plans to develop a paper bottle. And the ink was barely dry on that press release when Nestle, the largest food company in the world, launched Nestle Purina Pro Plan Renew premium cat litter in a paper bottle made by Ecologic Brands. Let’s start with the Nestle Purina offering, which became a marketplace reality in January of this year.
Made of recycled and recyclable molded pulp, this container is positioned as an environmentally friendlier alternative to F-style plastic jugs. It’s similar to three previous molded-pulp offerings from Ecologic: the Seventh Generation bottle for concentrated laundry detergent (2011), the eco.canister for TWC’s Bodylogix protein powder (2013), and the Bordeaux-style bottle made of molded pulp for 750-mL Paperboy wine (2014) from Truett-Hurst. Like these, the Nestle Purina bottle is made by dipping molds into a fiber slurry. Two shells emerge from this process, and the shells are joined by adhesive to create the finished bottle (see video at pwgo.to/1494).
