Page 30 - Plastics News July 2019

FeAtures

A New Contender In The Paper Bottle Segment

Pat Reynolds
Paper bottles can be used for a range of noncarbonated beverages in volumes up to 20 oz. offering the best
combination of low cost, less waste, extended shelf life, recyclability, biodegradability, and compostability
all together

orld over the concept of Paper bottles is catching their global impact, you start finding flaws. To truly
Wup to put it say from Carlsberg to L’Oreal to Nestle have a meaningful impact, we don’t need zero-pollution
Purina to Seventh Generation, the idea of a paper bottle packaging that only a few people can use. We need
has drawn tremendous interest from a range of Consumer packages that, even if they are imperfect, millions can
Packaged Goods companies. Though the Indian market is use. That’s how you have an impact. And if millions are
yet to come to the terms the US market is adapting to going to use such packaging, it has to be inexpensive. So
innovative, Plastics-less packaging. The latest one to enter we drove toward the development of a container and a
technology that would minimize package cost while having
the greatest possible impact on the environment.”
This bottle can be used for a range of noncarbonated
beverages in volumes up to 20 oz. Saslekov claims it
offers the best combination of low cost, less waste,
extended shelf life, recyclability, biodegradability, and
compostability. Here are the key metrics he claims: that
the bottle is 75% compostable under natural conditions,
has up to 75% less plastic than plastic bottles , 75% of
materials used are made from renewable resources
moreover using this package can reduce cost by up to
55% with materials used inthi are 100% recyclable in
standard facilities.
Before plunging into the makeup of this container and the
technology behind it, it’s important to elaborate a little on
item number three above: the prototype production line.
Like other inventors of new packaging technology whose
concepts are potentially transformational, the principals
is 3Epack Ltd., taking a decidedly minimalist approach. of 3Epack Ltd. recognized that they had to actually launch
In fact, once the various components are separated, a commercially available product to have any hope of
it’s remarkable just how flimsy this 3EpakR package proving that their concept was viable. The obvious facility
is. But that’s the whole idea. Because in this case it's to produce this new product was Toshitomo Co., a water
flimsiness that makes this packaging concept potentially bottling company in Dolnia Bania, Bulgaria, that is 40%
so environmentally robust.
owned by Saslekov. The firm supplies mineral water in 19-L
According to Todor Saslekov, the founder and CEO of 3Epack (5-gal) reusable PET containers. Since 2018, Toshitomo is
Ltd, three main innovations drive this development, a also making available MyEcoChoiceR beverages, including
novel structure, a gas-barrier film that extends shelf life flavored waters and iced teas. All are in the 3Epak format,
and third a prototype production line that proves methods and consumers purchase them online in minimum order
and the production process quantities of three 12-count shrink-wrapped units.
“The key question behind this development has always Container composition
been what will make the biggest impact in terms of So what is this unusual container made of? Not counting
pollution reduction?” says Saslekov. “There are a lot a straw that is automatically attached to each container,
of solutions out there, but once you begin to measure there are five parts:

Plastics News July 2019 30