ALPLA and BillerudKorsnäs will form a joint venture in the Danish paper bottle company ecoXpac to create a bio-based paper bottle. When the transaction has been completed, ALPLA and BillerudKorsnäs will own equal parts of ecoXpac. A minority post will be held by the founder family. BillerudKorsnäs is currently the majority owner and has been a shareholder in the company since 2015. 

ALPLA and BillerudKorsnäs share the ambition to drive packaging innovation in a sustainable direction. The two companies intend to leverage the development by combining their resources, competencies and strengths to support scaling ecoXpac in the commercialization of a fully bio-based and recyclable paper bottle.

In late 2016, Carlsberg Group revealed a first physical prototype of a paper bottle, the Green Fiber Bottle, and the first generation of paper bottles has since then been in a testing phase. The plan is to continue the development to be able to launch and then scale-up production. Following generations will be both fully bio-based and have biodegradable barriers.

“With BillerudKorsnäs we have found an ambitious partner creating a new packaging market segment that offers a complementary consumer experience to our current rigid packaging solutions. ALPLA is sharing the passion for technical challenges and innovation. I want to emphasize the long-term vision of the joint venture to introduce fully bio-based paper bottles...,” says Günther Lehner, CEO of ALPLA.

The joint venture transaction is expected to be completed in 3rd quarter 2019.