PET BOTTLES
UK soft drinks suppliers switch to 100% rPET bottles / Material sourced from mainland Europe
Two of the UK’s biggest soft drinks brands have announced they are switching to 100% recycled PET (rPET) bottles, even though the recycled food-grade waste is having to be sourced from outside the UK, in mainland Europe.
Smoothie drinks-maker innocent Drinks (www.innocentdrinks.co.uk) is claiming a world first by moving four of its flavours to rPET 250ml bottles. It expects to switch the rest of its products, which are currently in ready-to-drink bottles containing 50% rPET, by January 2008. The rPETbottles are 20% lighter than when PET was first introduced by innocent.
Also moving to rPET is Ribena (www.ribena.co.uk), part of GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com). It will switch its 330ml, 500ml and 1.25 l sizes, which currently have a 40% recycled content, to 100% rPET during October 2007. The rest of its range will follow by early 2008. Ribena says its switch to rPET was delayed by having to change its shrink sleeve from PVC to PET because of recognition problems on automatic sorting equipment.
Ribena uses 60 million bottles annually and this will require an estimated 4,000 t of rPET. Its bottles are being produced by Amcor (Gresford, North Wales / UK; www.amcor.com). Innocent says the change will mean a 55% reduction in the overall carbon footprint of its drinks. It has not divulged its bottle manufacturer.
Several UK companies are working on plans to recycle waste PET bottles to produce food-grade recyclate. They include Baylis Recycling (www.recyclemywaste.com) and Closed Loop London (www.visyclosedloop.com).
Smoothie drinks-maker innocent Drinks (www.innocentdrinks.co.uk) is claiming a world first by moving four of its flavours to rPET 250ml bottles. It expects to switch the rest of its products, which are currently in ready-to-drink bottles containing 50% rPET, by January 2008. The rPETbottles are 20% lighter than when PET was first introduced by innocent.
Also moving to rPET is Ribena (www.ribena.co.uk), part of GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com). It will switch its 330ml, 500ml and 1.25 l sizes, which currently have a 40% recycled content, to 100% rPET during October 2007. The rest of its range will follow by early 2008. Ribena says its switch to rPET was delayed by having to change its shrink sleeve from PVC to PET because of recognition problems on automatic sorting equipment.
Ribena uses 60 million bottles annually and this will require an estimated 4,000 t of rPET. Its bottles are being produced by Amcor (Gresford, North Wales / UK; www.amcor.com). Innocent says the change will mean a 55% reduction in the overall carbon footprint of its drinks. It has not divulged its bottle manufacturer.
Several UK companies are working on plans to recycle waste PET bottles to produce food-grade recyclate. They include Baylis Recycling (www.recyclemywaste.com) and Closed Loop London (www.visyclosedloop.com).
10.10.2007 Plasteurope.com [209176]
Published on 10.10.2007