Paper not plastic

The past few years have seen a growing uproar against the presence of plastic pollution in our oceans, and rightfully so. With an estimated eight million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans every year, birds, fish and other sea creatures are ingesting dangerous plastic substances every day. Despite the introduction of new regulations and the rise of anti-plastic sentiment, such as the 'Attenborough Effect'* (named after the BBC’s Blue Planet narrator David Attenborough) which has led to a 53% reduction in single-use plastic usage over the past 12 months, studies by WEF** suggest that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

While this statistic is extremely worrying, producing alternative materials is a challenging and complicated process. When creating a replacement for plastic there are a number of things that need to be considered: structural properties, durability, and the cost of mass production must ultimately be competitive with plastic. 

One of our portfolio companies aims to tackle these challenges head-on. With a goal to implement a manufacturing process that is both energy-efficient and cost-effective, while producing a product that can be recycled or biodegrade safely and rapidly, Natural Resources Ltd (NRL) uses paper pulp to create bottles. 

NRL has three key aspects to developing commercially-viable containers from paper pulp:

• A manufacturing process than can deliver large volumes of product at a cost which is competitive with plastics
• A capping solution that effectively seals the container but does not compromise recyclability
• A barrier coating that preserves the contents while allowing for recycling or rapid, environmentally-safe biodegradation. 

Its work with Britvic Soft Drinks has demonstrated NRL’s ability to produce sample bottles of the same standard in both structure and shape as the plastic bottles used today by the big brands. Naturally, the look and feel of paper pulp will always be different, and therefore complete adoption of environmentally-friendly materials will need a behavioural change, something that is part of the FMCG sector’s journey towards complete sustainability. 

NRL’s work is just one part of the fight against unnecessary plastic waste, alongside advanced methods of recycling, biomaterials and other approaches. I look forward to seeing the commercialisation of the exciting wave of innovation in this arena. 

* https://www.treehugger.com/plastic/attenborough-effect-has-cut-single-use-plastic-use-53-percent-last-year.html

** https://www.futureagenda.org/insight/plastic-oceans