Swedish innovation can save the planet from the plastic lids

Every year, more than 300 billion plastic lids – 1,500,000,000 kg of plastic – are used on our coffee and beverage cups. The lids leak, and we spill and burn ourselves. And because they are made of plastic, the lids are harmful to the environment – and are slated to be banned in the EU. Swedish company UniCup Scandinavia AB has now created an entirely new bio-based lid made of spruce and pine. The “Liplid” is placed inside, rather than on, the cup, and improves the stability and drinking experience of on-the-go beverages.

UniCup Scandinavia founders Lars Bendix and Håkan Löfholm have been developing products for on-the-go food and beverages for more than 20 years. Across these years they have seen and experienced major problems associated with plastic lids that are fitted onto beverage cups. When used for cold drinks or hot tea and coffee, these lids fail to meet the needs of today’s consumers in terms of both functionality and sustainability. The lids are difficult to put on properly. Spills are common occurrences. It is hard to drink through the lid and to cool down the beverage. Plastic lids are also a major environmental problem. More than 300 billion lids are produced globally each year, and many of these end up in nature.

Now the idea hatched and drawn upon a paper napkin by Lars and Håkan over a cup of coffee in Stockholm is a reality that can solve these problems.

“We have developed an environmentally friendly lid that sits inside the cup. This improves the cup’s stability and the overall drinking experience,” they say. “You drink from the rim of the cup instead of the lid, so you don’t burn yourself and it doesn’t taste like plastic or paper. The coffee tastes just like it does in your coffee cup at home.”

The lid is eco-friendly, 100% recyclable and provides excellent functionality. It is made from bio-based fibre material from Swedish raw materials, spruce and pine. Manufactured through a globally unique Dry Molded Fiber process, the lid is also extremely stable and sustainable. Due to the lid’s design, 25 per cent less material is required for production.

“We are already seeing that there’s a large market for Liplid. We are in contact with major chains that are very interested in purchasing the lid,” says Jesper Berthold, chief executive officer of UniCup Scandinavia AB, Liplid’s producer.

Liplid is developed by UniCup Scandinavia AB in collaboration with the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE). The lid will be manufactured in Sweden.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.

The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.

Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.

As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.

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