Coke to test first-ever paper bottle in Hungary

The Coca-Cola Company will offer plant-based beverage AdeZ in 2,000 of its first-ever paper bottle prototype in Hungary via e-grocery retailer Kifli.hu.

The paper bottle project is being co-developed by Coca‑Cola’s R&D team in Brussels and Paboco, a Danish startup supported by ALPLA and BillerudKorsnäs.

The project, being done in cooperation with Carlsberg, L’Oréal, and The Absolut Company, is moving into the consumer testing phase to determine the package’s performance and shopper response.

Daniela Zahariea, Coca‑Cola Europe's director of technical supply chain and innovation, explained they are partnering with experts like Paboco, experimenting openly, and conducting this first-in-market trial.

She added that Coca‑Cola is expected to develop and bring to market new, innovative, and sustainable packaging.

The Paboco-developed technology is designed to create 100 percent recyclable bottles out of sustainably-sourced wood. It has a bio-based material barrier capable of resisting liquids, oxygen, and CO2.

Beverages, beauty products, and other liquid goods are its targeted products.

It can be recycled as paper.

Under The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste, it would collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one it sells by 2030 while using only 100 percent recyclable packaging materials and substantially reducing the use of virgin packaging materials.

To achieve this vision, the company has to invest in innovation while collaborating with partners for a sustainable design while driving collection and recycling.

Stijn Franssen, R&D Packaging Innovation Manager for Coca‑Cola Europe, emphasized that the breakthrough technology is still under development.