Castrol announced that it is partnering with paper-based packaging maker, Pulpex, to design paper bottles for use with Castrol's products.

Pulpex’s technology forms bottles from wood pulp using 100% renewable feedstocks from responsibly managed forests¹. Its paper bottle is designed to offer a lower carbon footprint — up to 30% less than PET and glass².

Pulpex says that Castrol is the latest company to join its partner consortium — a group global CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies committed to adopting Pulpex paper packaging. Launched in July 2020 as a collaboration between Pilot Lite and Diageo, the consortium includes PepsiCo, Unilever and GSK Consumer Healthcare.

Last month Castrol launched its PATH360 strategy³, which aims to deliver a more sustainable future by saving waste, reducing carbon and improving lives.

One of Castrol's aims is to halve its plastic footprint by 2030⁴, and this partnership forms part of its plastic footprint reduction plan.

Castrol says it is already incorporating recycled plastic into its packs⁵ in the U.S. and is rolling out a new optimized pack design that uses less plastic⁶ and packs better for more efficient logistics. The company says that exploring the use of alternative materials is the next step on its plastic reduction journey.

"Castrol is committed to examining the lifecycle of its existing and new products to see how they can be improved, extended, reused or recycled," says A.S. Ramchander, Castrol's chief marketing officer. "We're very excited to be working with Pulpex to explore how their technology, initially designed for the FMCG category, can be developed for lubricants as a replacement for our existing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles."

According to Ramchander, "Our initial work in adapting the Pulpex 100% PET-free bottle technology for use in oil packaging has been extremely positive. Collaborating with innovation partners such as Pulpex is critical to developing novel solutions in this challenging category and we are delighted to be working with them to achieve our sustainability ambition.

"Our research has shown that our customers and consumers are looking for more sustainable solutions. This technology, if successfully scaled, could help towards reducing Castrol's plastic footprint."

Visit www.pulpex.com and www.castrol.com for more information.

1 https://www.pulpex.com/about 
2 International Journal of Lifecycle Assessment, June 2013
3 www.castrol.com/path360 
4 To promote the responsible design and management of plastic packaging along its lifecycle, Castrol defines its plastic footprint as the amount of virgin plastic included in its packaging per liter that isn't recycled. The company says its baseline is 2019.
5 https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home/path360/saving-waste.html 
6 Versus 2019 packaging