Paboco develops bio-based packaging solutions made from pulp. The Danish joint venture was founded in 2019 by ALPLA and pulp and paper manufacturer Billerud. The internationally active packaging specialist ALPLA is now taking over Billerud’s shares and, as majority shareholder, is investing in scaling manufacturing capacity. From the end of 2024, Paboco plans to produce a fully recyclable paper bottle at a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Denmark.

Paboco (The Paper Bottle Company) develops and produces fiber-based packaging solutions using innovative pulp-forming technology. The company, based in Slangerup, Denmark, was founded in 2019 by ALPLA and Billerud as a joint venture. By taking over all of Billerud’s shares and investing in Paboco, packaging and recycling specialist ALPLA, as majority shareholder, is pushing the rapid industrialization of the fully recyclable paper bottle made from FSC-certified fibers.

“Safety, affordability and sustainability are the central criteria of our packaging solutions. After several years of intensive development and groundbreaking innovations, the Paboco team is now ready to take its pioneering product to the market and establish the paper bottle as a sustainable alternative for a wide range of customers,” says ALPLA CEO Philipp Lehner.

Successful test phase

Since 2021, Paboco has been testing the first products on the market together with the Paboco Pioneer Community members: The Absolut Company, Carlsberg Group, The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble. After the successful test phase, series production of the next generation of recyclable paper bottles is scheduled to start at the end of 2024.

“The vision of the fully bio-based and recyclable paper bottle has driven the team to create amazing results in just a short development period. With the bottle configuration now, we are targeting the beauty and fabric and home-care segment, but continuous development will also enable us to bring our next-generation bottle into further applications. We are happy that ALPLA is fully committed to supporting us on this journey,” explains Tim Silbermann, CEO of Paboco.

For the market launch, the company plans to set up a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site and development center in Denmark. There are currently 18 employees at Paboco – the number of employees is expected to increase significantly by the time series production begins.

Innovations for the future

The long-term goal of Paboco is to develop and scale fully bio-based and recyclable paper bottles. In doing so, the company can count on the support of ALPLA: ‘We at ALPLA work intensively on alternative materials, invest in promising projects and actively shape technological progress as a “Family of Pioneers” says Christian Zmölnig, director corporate research, development and innovation at ALPLA and chairman of the board of directors at Paboco. The newly formed board of directors of Paboco is completed by Ricardo Rehm, CFO of ALPLA, and Rainer Widmar, managing director Central and Eastern Europe at ALPLA.

The transaction took place at the beginning of October. The contracting parties agreed not to disclose the details.