UK household-products company smol is preparing to introduce laundry liquid in a moulded fibre bottle developed with Pulpex, extending fibre-based bottle technology into the household detergent market.
The new format is scheduled to launch during autumn 2026 and uses a bottle body made primarily from cellulose fibre sourced from certified, sustainably managed forests.
Pulpex forms the bottle from wet forestry pulp using its proprietary moulding process. Because the pack is intended to contain liquid detergent, the inside incorporates what smol describes as an ultra-thin water-based coating.
The dosing cap is made from 100% recycled polypropylene.
According to smol, consumers will be able to remove the plastic cap for recycling with household plastics and place the main fibre bottle in standard UK paper and card recycling collections.
The company has not disclosed the exact fibre-to-polymer composition of the complete package, commercial production volumes or the amount of plastic eliminated per bottle, so the environmental performance of the format will depend on the final pack specification and local collection and recycling conditions.
The development is nevertheless significant for fibre-bottle technology because laundry detergent places different performance demands on packaging than dry products, including liquid containment, durability during transport and compatibility between the fibre shell and internal barrier.
Pulpex has been developing moulded-fibre bottles for a number of consumer-product categories as companies explore alternatives to conventional rigid plastic formats.
For smol, the bottle will add another packaging format to a product range that already includes concentrated refills and reusable containers.
The commercial launch will provide a further test of whether moulded-fibre bottles can move beyond development programmes into higher-volume household product applications.
