While Packaging World tends to feature commercialized, shelf-ready packaging applications, projects still percolating in the prototype stage sometimes catch our eye. We first got wind that Sweden’s Blue Ocean Closures’ (BOC) paper-based bottle cap was soon to get a big brand on board back in March at a Smithers’ Sustainability in Packaging U.S. 2022 conference (article here).
It turns out that fellow Swedish company Absolut, a Pernod Ricard brand, was the trailblazing spirits producer testing the BOC caps. The Absolut Company says it will develop the cap for use on its current glass bottles as an addition to existing cap solutions, as well as a possibility for future packaging innovations. There are likely to be several iterations of the cap through prototyping and testing stages in 2022, with plans to share it commercially in 2023. 
“We are still in the early stages of this project with Blue Ocean Closures, however, based on use of renewable raw materials to create a recyclable and biodegradable cap, we’re excited about the impact the change will make on the products’ sustainability,” says Eric Naf, Director Packaging Development at The Absolut Company.
Absolut’s existing cap is made from an inner plastic liner and an aluminum outer shell. The new closure format, which is intended to complement the existing closure format rather than replace it, is made from bio-based materials. The cap’s design reduces the amount of plastic used in packaging by combining a body made of sustainably sourced virgin FSC fiber material with a thin top-seal barrier layer, making it recyclable as paper and ocean biodegradable, according to BOC.
