Suffolk inventor's paper milk bottle set to go global
Green Bottle, a tiny Suffolk-based company that has developed a green alternative to plastic bottles is in advanced talks with a consumer goods giant for a global deal to supply it with environmentally friendly detergent bottles – made out of paper.
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The company currently has a deal to supply biodegradable paper milk bottles to 15 Asda stores as a precursor to a planned national roll-out with the supermarket chain later this year.
The bottles consist of a paper shell and an inner plastic liner that holds the liquid. While plastic bottles take an estimated 500 years to decompose and can be recycled just once, a Green Bottle paper shell will decompose in approximately five weeks. The paper casing can also be recycled up to five times or can be disposed of on a compost heap.
Founder and technical director Martin Myerscough came up with the idea when his son brought a papier mache balloon home from school. He claimed the bottle, which has a carbon footprint around one third smaller than that of a plastic bottle, could ease a growing landfill crisis.
More than 15 million plastic milk bottles are used every day in the UK, and even if they're recycled, the vast majority end up in landfill
The price and production speed of the paper bottles is comparable to plastic bottles, said Mr Myerscough.
Green Bottle has been funded with £4.5m from private investors and advertising agency Mother, and is currently trying to raise a further £1m from existing and new investors.
Andy Brent, Green Bottle's managing director – a former marketing director of Alliance Boots and Sky – said he was persuaded to join the start-up because it "was probably the best consumer idea I've ever seen in my career".
"It was nailing the zeitgeist for things that are better for the environment in a rare way – there's no negative for the ordinary person – no cost difference, no usage difference."
The business aims to make a billion bottles in three years.