Danish brewer Carlsberg could soon be selling beer in paper bottles

Danish beer maker Carlsberg unveiled what it says is the first "paper bottle" for beer, made out of sustainably-sourced wood fibers.

Carlsberg unveiled its Green Fibre Bottle at the C40 Mayor's Summit in Copenhagen late last week as part of the company's initiative to end carbon emissions at its breweries and reduce its end-to-end carbon footprint by 2030.

Myriam Shingleton, the vice president of group development at Carlsberg Group, said in a statement that she and others are "pleased with the progress we’ve made on the Green Fibre Bottle so far."

"While we are not completely there yet, the two prototypes are an important step towards realizing our ultimate ambition of bringing this breakthrough to market," Shingleton added. "Innovation takes time and we will continue to collaborate with leading experts in order to overcome remaining technical challenges, just as we did with our plastic-reducing Snap Pack.”

Carlsberg is joining the Coca-Cola Company, The Absolut Company and L’Oréal in a a so-called paper bottle community. These companies are also working to develop bottles made out of paper fibers.

"Partnerships such as these, ones that are united by a desire to create sustainable innovations, are the best way to bring about real change,” Shingleton said.

Carlsberg unveiled two prototypes which both have a thin polymer plastic-based barrier. One has a recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film barrier and the other one has a "bio-based" PEF (polyethylenefuranoate) polymer film barrier. The company said the barriers are still being tested but the goal is to create a 100% bio-based bottle without the polymers.

Both paper bottles, however, are also fully recyclable, the company said in a statement.   

While still in the prototype phase, the company did not yet say when the paper beer bottles would be hitting shelves.