SWEDEN - PulPac is widening its reach in the U.S. market, as it recently unveiled a major breakthrough. The U.S. Patent Office has announced a grant for one of the innovator's most general patents, stating that Dry Molded Fiber is invented and duly owned by the Swedish packaging company.

“Our duty to the planet is to spread this technology as fast and wide as we can,” commented Linus Larsson, CEO of PulPac. “To achieve this, we are setting out to scale quickly through licensing. To empower the efforts further we have formed an open-source alliance called the Dry Molded Fiber Technology Pool that welcomes any converter, brand, or supplier in plastics or fiber that wish to grow with and support the advancement in the Dry Molded Fiber process.”

PulPac’s Dry Molded Fiber is a manufacturing technology that uses renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low cost, high performance, fiber-based packaging and single-use products, as explained in a press release. The use of Dry Molded Fiber gives up to 80–90 percent lower carbon footprint at the same or lower cost than plastic and enables high-speed manufacturing, allowing it to replace some single-use products presently made of plastics.

“PulPac is here to support the global transformation to fiber with many more advancement innovations to come,” Larsson added. “Together, we will win on price and sustainability against plastics. We will reduce global CO₂ emissions from the industry with at least 5 million tons by 2025 while conserving precious water resources.”

The packaging company joined a pivotal alliance earlier this year, teaming up with PA Consulting and Seismic Solutions to encourage brands and manufacturers to replace single-use plastics with Dry Molded Fiber products.

“The United States patent grant further validates the technology and represents another meaningful milestone on PulPac’s mission to eliminate single-use plastics. Seismic Solutions is proud to partner with PulPac and PA Consulting as part of their commitment to packaging innovation and sustainability,” said Kent Dahlgren, General Manager at Seismic Solutions.

Licensing from an independent technology provider is a critical step in the scale-up of new industrial technologies, the press release noted. The same patent application was recently approved in Japan, with other patents granted in China and Europe earlier this year.

“Dry Molded Fiber is a unique technology that is playing a critical global role in delivering sustainable packaging at volumes needed to significantly impact plastics reduction,” said Phil Fawcus, Sustainable Packaging Lead at PA Consulting. “We are delighted this world-changing technology has now been recognized with patents in the US, Japan, China, and Europe.”

As more unique developments and innovations make their way into the fresh produce sector, AndNowUKnow will continue to report.

PulPac