The story of Bispenser, the first salt shaker made entirely of paperboard. A story of innovation.

Scandinavian countries have always led the way in terms of environmental sustainability. In 2013, the Swedish company Hanson & Möhring, a market leader with their Falksalt brand salt, contacted us to create a prototype salt shaker made entirely of paperboard.

They wanted a new, "ecological" salt shaker to replace the classic plastic cylinder they’d been using. To do this we had to replicate the two opening systems and their functions as faithfully as possible on a paperboard carton. The project requirements included an opening with a larger hole providing a more abundant product flow when used in the kitchen, and a second opening providing a slower flow with a salt shaking filter for dosing the product at the table.

For us, dispensing the salt with an abundant flow appeared to be immediately feasible. In fact, all we had to do was insert our historical Pac Spout, created in the post 2nd World War period to dispense and preserve salt, on one side of the carton.

The real challenge was finding a viable alternative to the second opening used to dispense salt at the table.
In fact, even today the folded paperboard industry still hasn’t found a way to create a die that can replicate small holes like those in a classic salt shaker.

Furthermore, due to its chemical composition, salt tends to form lumps when it gets damp, so in this case we had to provide a resealable opening that could preserve the product, protecting it from air and external agents. So, how did we do it?

Dispense precisely the right amount of salt in just 3 seconds

That was the design requirement we started with.
In the test phase we made prototypes with a single small opening, large enough to be reproduced by carton suppliers, to see how the size of the hole affected the flow rate in the specified time the product would be used by the customer.

Once we found the right coefficient to dispense the correct amount of product, we still had to figure out how to dispense table salt over an area instead of just one place.

We soon noticed our classic spout is perfectly able to disperse the grains of salt anywhere on the plate, easily doing the same job as the small holes in traditional plastic salt shakers. In fact, all you have to do, instead of holding the carton steady and pouring the salt vertically in one place, is simply swing the carton in your hand from side to side in a delicate, natural movement. A better user experience.

We also noticed that this new solution is suitable for spices of different shapes and sizes, such as thyme or rosemary, as well as different types of salt with various gran sizes.
As the dispensing hole can be adapted to each type of product, a company with several different products can easily ask its carton supplier to cut a custom-sized hole so each particular product can be dispensed to meet the consumers’ needs.

Last but not least, in addition to the above-mentioned advantages, we calculated that with flat cartons the logistics and transportation costs before filling are as much as 10 times lower than the costs incurred with pre-formed cylinders.
Isn’t that something worth thinking about?

So, in roughly 12 months, from the testing phases to the verifications of the patent office, the patent was filed under the name Bispenser; the practical, ecological, innovative dosing system for the table.
It was incredible to make our own personal contribution to innovation in the packaging sector, with a view to sustainability, and all thanks to the challenge we were presented by our customer.