Bottled water and soft drinks producers drive plan to eliminate plastic packaging waste from their sectors by 2030

The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and a group of leading bottled water and soft drink manufacturers have launched a report at the House of Commons, which sets out an ambitious roadmap to eliminate plastic packaging waste from the bottled water and soft drinks value chain by 2030.

The report, the first of its kind, is set out to enable and encourage other industries and countries to create their own systemic roadmaps and visions to eliminate plastic packaging waste.

The report, developed collaboratively by the industry and its stakeholders, sets out key actions and aspirations to make eliminating plastic packaging waste a strategic priority. These include:

• Producers to commit to all bottled water and soft drinks packaging to be made from 100 per cent recyclable or reusable material and aim for at least 70 per cent recycled material by 2025.
• Producers and Government to investigate the optimal material of the future for bottled water and soft drinks that eliminates plastic waste while ensuring the lowest overall environmental impact.
• Producers and Government to undertake research into consumer behaviour to support recycling ambitions towards achieving a ‘circular economy’ for bottled water and soft drinks packaging.
• Government to create a consistent nationwide recycling system, and reinvest revenue from new policies into UK recycling, sorting and reprocessing capacity.

The roadmap provides a clear timeline for working towards the ultimate goal of transitioning to a more circular economy for plastic soft drinks packaging, where plastic packaging use is reduced wherever possible and otherwise is reusable or recovered and recycled.

The report was developed with input from the Future of Plastic Packaging Working Group: Lucozade Ribena Suntory and members of the Natural Hydration Council: Brecon Mineral Waters, Danone Waters (UK and Ireland), Harrogate Water Brands, Highland Spring Group, Montgomery Waters, Nestlé Waters UK, Shepley Spring and Wenlock Spring.

Read the full report.