Castrol has announced it will work with Pulpex, a paper packaging designer, to create paper bottles for use with Castrol’s products.
Pulpex is described as a first-of-its-kind technology that forms bottles from wood pulp using 100% renewable feedstocks from responsibly managed forests. Its paper bottle is said to offer a lower carbon footprint – up to 30% less than PET and glass.
Castrol is the latest company to join the Pulpex partner consortium – a group of global CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies committed to adopting Pulpex paper packaging. Launched in July 2020 as a collaboration between Pilot Lite and Diageo, the consortium includes PepsiCo, Unilever and GSK Consumer Healthcare with other brands poised to follow suit.
Last month Castrol launched its PATH360 strategy, which aims to deliver a more sustainable future by saving waste and reducing carbon.
One of Castrol’s aims is to halve its plastic footprint by 2030, and this partnership forms part of its plastic footprint reduction plan.
Castrol has already incorporated recycled plastic into its packs in the US and is rolling out an optimised pack design that uses less plastic and packs easier in a bid to deliver more efficient logistics. Exploring the use of alternative materials is said to be the next step on the company’s plastic reduction journey.
A.S. Ramchander, Castrol’s Chief Marketing Officer, explained: “Castrol is committed to examining the lifecycle of its existing and new products to see how they can be improved, extended, reused or recycled. We’re very excited to be working with Pulpex to explore how their technology, initially designed for the FMCG category, can be developed for lubricants as a replacement for our existing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles.”
“Our initial work in adapting the Pulpex 100% PET-free bottle technology for use in oil packaging has been extremely positive. Collaborating with innovation partners such as Pulpex is critical to developing novel solutions in this challenging category and we are delighted to be working with them to achieve our sustainability ambition.”
“Our research has shown that our customers and consumers are looking for more sustainable solutions. This technology, if successfully scaled, could help towards reducing Castrol’s plastic footprint.”
