Pioneering Canadian packaging company KinsBrae Packaging is giving their paper KB bottles a sustainability upgrade by moving to a mono material polyethylene pouch that will make them easier to recycle.
The KB bottle, designed by British company Frugalpac, is made from 100% recycled paperboard with a carbon footprint 84% lower than a glass bottle. The KB bottle recently won the prestigious “Product of the Year” – the world’s largest consumer voted award for product innovation - for the 2024 Packaging category.
KinsBrae Packaging was the first company in the world to install a Frugalpac paper bottle machine in their Cambridge, Ontario facility back in 2023.
The KB bottle originally launched with a metallised PET (MET PET) pouch to hold the liquid which although recyclable, there were concerns it wouldn’t be accepted at recycling facilities in some Canadian provinces.
KinsBrae Packaging has now solved that problem by replacing the KB bottle’s MET PET pouch with a mono material polyethylene pouch which will see much higher rates of recycling due to the more advanced recycling infrastructures for mono materials in Canada.
The new mono material pouch is a polyethylene-based solution taking advantage of the developments in advanced polyethylene to achieve the same shelf life and drop height characteristics of the current MET PET pouch.
KinsBrae Packaging has conducted rigorous oxygen transfer, filling, and distribution testing to ensure the new material meets the needs of the wine and spirits’ market.
KinsBrae’s paper KB bottle customers include Georgian Bay Spirit Co whose Eco Gin is listed at the LCBO, as well as Magnotta Winery, Ontario’s third largest winery who recently launched their new brand, Ugly Duck Red and White, at the LCBO, and Frisky Beaver, an Ontario based winery – also available through the LCBO.
KinsBrae Packaging CEO Shawn Bonnick said: “At KinsBrae Packaging, we’re constantly striving to improve the sustainability of our packaging and listening to our customers. The bottle is made from 100% recycled materials but there were concerns that the pouch may not be accepted for recycling, and we wanted to address that.
“With the advances in pouch technology, we can now give the KB bottle a sustainability upgrade by moving to a mono-material pouch that is much easier to recycle, and we have confirmation that it has been approved by recycling facilities.
“The best thing about the design of the KB bottle, is that as pouches become even more sustainable and recyclable, we can easily upgrade to them. It’s future-proofed sustainability and recyclability.”
The new mono material pouch will be available in 2025, and further information is available on request.
Frugalpac recently won a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation for its Frugal Bottles and the machines that make them.
The Frugalpac-designed paper bottle is now used by 46 brands in 109 skus in 25 countries around the world, including being on sale in Whole Foods Markets in the US and Aldi supermarkets in the UK.