Cardboard bottles and jars are made from recycling materials and are easily recyclable, creating a circular system
One day the Californian financial advisor Julie Corbett has filled a gap in the market for laundry soap available in eco-friendly containers. And he had the idea of creating cardboard bottles and jars. Or rather, she thought that molding cardboard around a thin plastic liner could create a sustainable alternative to all-plastic bottles.
He assembled his first bottles in his kitchen, using a glue gun. After some time and several million dollars of investment, his company Ecological Brands is growing.
Cardboard bottles and jars
Ecologic Brands now produces bottles in its 18000 square meter factory in California. The plant converts waste cardboard and plastic products into bottles, jars and bags that are shipped flat and assembled by Ecologic customers, much like IKEA furniture. Customers then use cardboard bottles and jars as they want, filling them with detergents, food and beauty products. When the bottles are empty, the light plastic lining can be easily removed and recycled, just like the bottle or jar.
The company's engineers developed their proprietary manufacturing process from scratch and have filed 37 patents for the processes, to ensure that cardboard bottles and jars can be used just like traditional plastic containers. Ecologic Brands points out that their process uses 60% less plastic than conventional bottles and this year expects to produce around 75 million cardboard bottles and jars.
A downhill road
How does the market react to the advent of cardboard bottles and jars? After a slow start, manufacturers are finally taking notice of the product in a big way. Corbett says: “What drives me crazy is that our first cardboard bottle has been on the market for nine years, and consumers are finally taking notice. More and more retailers want it – I guess we were ahead of our time.”
Developing sustainable and circular packaging solutions is a key part of reducing reliance on plastic. So, it's no wonder that we're seeing an increasing number of innovations in this space.
