Latest news with #Ljungberg
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Why your next bottle of shampoo might come in a soda can
When a Swedish startup set out to make personal care packaging more sustainable, it turned to an unexpected source of inspiration: aluminum cans. Meadow, the company behind the concept, created a refill system that seals shampoo, lotion, and other products inside aluminum cans. Unlike soda, there's no pull tab—the aluminum cartridge, called Kapsul, has a solid lid. But when you insert the can into Meadow's reusable pump and twist on the top, the device pierces the lid with a clean, satisfying pop. When you've used up the product, the aluminum can be easily recycled. 'We knew that we would not be able to develop a totally new packaging solution,' says Victor Ljungberg, Meadow's CEO and cofounder. 'We don't have the time and we can't afford to build totally new infrastructure. We need to look at what we have.' They knew that aluminum beverage cans had a high recycling rate—in Sweden, it's around 90%. In the U.S., it's a much lower 43%. But that's still more than triple the recycling rate for plastic packaging. Aluminum can also be recycled repeatedly without losing any quality, unlike plastic. 'The aluminum beverage can, the most recycled container, already exists on the market,' Ljungberg says. 'But the whole industry around this has been focused on one thing—to use that container for food-grade content. We asked ourselves, okay, what is it that we need to do to take it into new categories such as personal care, pharma, home care, and others?' For safety reasons, they didn't want to put soap in a can that someone might mistake for a drink. That's why the team designed the lid to only open when it's inside the reusable dispenser. The design also makes it easier to use than typical refills that have to be poured into a container, Ljungberg argues. (The company calls the packaging 'prefills' since they're already ready to use.) Many refills also currently come in thin plastic film that ends up in the trash. Of course, there are other ways to ditch plastic packaging. Companies like Kitsch make shampoo in bar form, for example, so it only needs a small paper box. But Ljungberg believes that many consumers aren't quite ready for that much change. 'We need to admit that there is a very established single-use culture among people all over the planet,' he says. 'With what we do, we meet consumers where they are, saying that we are not forcing them to change behavior too much. Instead, they will buy the cans on the shelf just as they buy goods today.' The startup partnered with DRT, the Ohio-based company that invented the first pull-tab cans, as well as Ball Corporation, the world's largest can manufacturer. Ball Corp is also one of the company's minority investors. (The startup has raised around $15 million in seed funding so far.) Because it's possible to make the cans on existing equipment in factories, the packaging can easily scale up. Brands can add their own branding to the cans and dispensers, paying a licensing fee to use the system. Companies like Ikea or Muji could also potentially make universal dispensers. Nuniq, a Swiss personal care company that avoids plastic packaging, recently started using Meadow's system for products like cleanser and body lotion. More brands will soon follow when Meadow launches in the U.K. this fall.
Daily Mirror
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Arsenal hero hammered chef in foul-mouthed outburst – 'I can't eat this f***ing food'
Martin Keown has reflected on how a language barrier landed Freddie Ljungberg in a spot of bother during his Arsenal playing days, unknowingly berating a chef in the canteen of the training ground Freddie Ljungberg unknowingly found himself unleashing a foul-mouthed rant on an Arsenal chef during his playing days. After breaking through the ranks of Halmstad in his homeland of Sweden, the Gunners brought the winger to Highbury in a £3million deal in 1998. While he knew some English upon arrival, he wasn't quite fluent, and a language barrier proved problematic on one occasion in particular according to his former team-mate, Martin Keown. Speaking about Ljungberg's arrival in north London, Keown told TNT Sports: "I remember early training sessions thinking, 'wow this kid. He can play, he's got a massive personality'. "But it felt like a Jack Russell, like a young dog. I've got to just, kind of, snap the leash occasionally." And Ljungberg's personality landed him in hot water after he didn't realise that he had launched a foul-mouthed rant at a chef in the canteen. Keown added: "One day you were hammering the chefs, saying 'I can't taste this f***ing rubbish', and I was saying, 'Freddie, no, no, no... on the pitch'. And then you said, 'why? What have I said?' Because you were trying to develop your language." Explaining the incident, Ljungberg said: "I remember I got the kit man to teach me all of the slang, because I wanted to understand what you guys were saying. I felt with Ray Parlour, when you guys spoke sometimes I was like, 'what are they saying?' "I didn't understand a word. So I tried to like figure those things out, and yes sometimes maybe then the swear words I hadn't really understood the severity of what you guys were saying in the dressing room. You couldn't say them when you left the dressing room. "So I learned after a while, so I appreciate that." With a hint of comedy, Keown then quoted Ljungberg by saying: "'I can't eat this f***ing food'. Are you sure?" The former winger chuckled back. Ljungberg ultimately spent eight years at Arsenal between 1998 and 2007, lifting two Premier League titles and four domestic trophies under Arsene Wenger, partially thanks to his 72 goals and 40 assists in 328 games. He then played for West Ham United, Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, Celtic, Shimizu S-Pulse, and Mumbai City, before retiring in 2014. In the years since, Ljungberg has gone on to manage Arsenal's U15 and U23 sides, as well as a stint as caretaker manager of the first-team in 2019 following the departure of Unai Emery and ahead of the arrival of current head coach, Mikel Arteta. Elsewhere, he currently manages the N5 FC team in the Baller League, alongside Jens Lehmann and Robert Pires.
