Swedish company Blue Ocean Closures (BOC) has said its latest generation of fiber screw caps can match or outperform fossil plastic in material cost, while delivering significantly lower energy consumption during production.
According to Seas at Risk Plastic caps are among the top five most deadly ocean trash items. Marine mammals, birds and fish often eat the plastic bottle caps, thinking they’re food. In summer 2016, over 10,000 caps were collected along the entire Dutch North Sea coast.
BOC said it can make renewable fibers directly from virgin or recycled carton board feedstock — a material and technology combination that is both widely available and less expensive than traditional fiber-forming and fossil-based plastics. Combined with production cycles below two seconds and an energy requirement roughly one-tenth that of conventional plastic molding, the company said this development establishes fiber closures as a truly cost-leading, low-carbon alternative for a wide range of packaging applications.
Blue Ocean Closures’ new cost position follows several years of intensive R&D and industrial collaboration with early adopters and global brands including Great Earth and The Absolut Group. The company said it technology enables high-speed production of recyclable fiber components that integrate seamlessly into existing paper recycling systems, meeting the accelerating demand for circular packaging solutions driven by global brand commitments and new EU regulations.
Beyond sustainability and cost efficiency, BOC’s said the caps’ natural look, tactile feel and customizable geometry provide high shelf impact and strong consumer preference.
“For the first time, we can say that fiber-based closures can be cost competitive–or even lower in cost–compared to fossil plastics, while using only a fraction of the energy. This is the moment when sustainability and profitability truly align,” said Lars Sandberg, CEO, Blue Ocean Closures
