Dive Brief:
- Swedish aluminum packaging startup Meadow is targeting hotels in an upcoming wave of expansion, underpinned by recent sustainability regulations.
- It plans to roll out a wall-mounted system called SleeveLock that will hold its Meadow Kapsul pre-filled aluminum canisters. This could be used in the hospitality sector, including by hotels, salons and spas, for soaps, shampoos and other dispensable products as an alternative to small toiletries packaged in single-use plastic.
- The company says it expects pilots for the system this year, with broader launches supported by licensing partners and comanufacturers next year.
Dive Insight:
Meadow is focusing on transforming the recyclable aluminum can format with its specialized can ends and “punch” system for implementing pre-filled canisters. It aims to normalize cans beyond traditional markets like food or beverage to personal care and beauty, and grow in home care in the future.
Meadow’s “pre-fill” canister system and recyclable components are designed to fit into extended producer responsibility schemes and the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. In the U.S. market, interest in sustainability has been “a bit up and down,” but EPR laws are stoking curiosity, said CEO Victor Ljungberg.
In the time since Meadow’s founding in 2020, the United States has gone from zero to seven states with packaging EPR laws that require and incentivize certain recyclable or refillable packaging changes.
EPR laws like California’s SB 54 incentivize reuse and refill solutions, including through source reduction requirements. “We know the impact of [California regulations] and how that influences other different states,” Ljungberg said.
Additionally, the U.S. has seen more hotel-specific regulations, including in California, Illinois, New York and Washington, which have restricted hotels from offering small plastic containers of personal care products.
Ljungberg believes Meadow has a more efficient and less messy solution than hotels simply replacing those minis with refillable plastic or glass containers. The company aims to help businesses comply with regulations not only through the next few years, but align with more ambitious sustainability goals or requirements long-term, Ljungberg said. Reusable packaging components are “going to be main pillars of the future,” he said. “So that’s what we're betting on: a quite long horizon.”
The company has a “strategic alliance” with Ball, whose global presence helps Meadow produce the can ends. “We together are building the market,” Ljungberg said.
Meadow has also partnered with other U.S. companies. It has a licensing agreement with Stephen Gould. Meadow expects to work with more contract manufacturing partners that sell to hotels in the U.S.
“Most of the strategy is just to make sure that we are approaching the right hotels,” he said. In the beginning, this will likely be hotels that have established sustainability strategies, beyond just meeting minimum compliance, Ljungberg said.
