Elopak invests in Blue Ocean Closures to advance fiber-based caps

Elopak has announced its investment in Blue Ocean Closures, becoming a co-owner of the Swedish sustainability start-up specializing in fiber-based closures. The partnership supports Elopak’s effort in cutting the carbon footprint of its cartons by reducing plastic use and increasing paper content.

As part of the agreement, Elopak has secured exclusive global rights to market, sell, and distribute Blue Ocean Closures’ fiber-based caps for gable top cartons, including its Pure-Pak and D-PAK solutions. The investment aligns with Elopak’s “Repackaging Tomorrow” strategy.

Thomas Körmendi, CEO of Elopak, says: “We are proud to be partnering with Blue Ocean Closures in further exploring this exciting technology, complementary to our ongoing R&D activities. Blue Ocean Closures’ fiber-based closures are a solution that can support Elopak’s vision for a more renewable, low-carbon, and low-plastic dependent packaging sector.”

Replacing plastics

Blue Ocean Closures says it will continue to bring the first applications to market together with its existing brand partners, with backing from Elopak to accelerate early developments. 

Lars Sandberg, CEO of Blue Ocean Closure, comments: “We are delighted to have Elopak join our partnership of leading industrial owners. We share Elopak’s vision for reshaping the future of packaging and are excited to learn from their global network and decades of experience in sustainable innovation.”

“The beverage carton market has been a top priority for us from the very start. Elopak is a leader in the Gable Top segment, a global packaging concept where we see the first high-volume use cases for replacing plastic with fiber-based closures.”

Earlier this year, Japan-based technology company Nissha also announced that it would become co-owner of Blue Ocean Closures. By joining forces, Nissha aims to combine technologies with environmentally conscious processes and materials.