Taking a major step to support a circular economy, Coca-Cola^® launched in rPET in pack sizes of 250 ml and 750 ml across several markets in India.

After being the first company in India to launch a one-litre bottle made from 100 % recycled PET (rPET) for its packaged drinking water brand Kinley, Coca-Cola India is taking another meaningful step towards creating a circular economy and has announced the launch of Coca-Cola® in rPET in pack sizes of 250 ml and 750 ml. These rPET bottles are being manufactured by Coca-Cola bottling partners – Moon Beverages Ltd., and SLMG Beverages Ltd.

The rPET bottles expansion showcases Coca-Cola India’s transformative journey towards building a sustainable and greener future for all. The bottles made from 100 % food-grade rPET (excluding caps and labels) have an on-pack call to action “Recycle Me Again” message and will also drive consumer awareness with “100 % recycled PET bottle” displayed on the pack.

These rPET bottles are crafted from food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The plastic is recycled as per the technologies approved by the US FDA and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for food-grade recycled material and repurposed into new PET bottles, reducing the need for virgin plastic for producing PET Bottles.

The Coca–Cola Company now offers 100 % rPET bottles in over 40 markets, bringing it closer to its World Without Waste goal of making bottles with 50 % recycled content by 2030. Announced in 2018, the sustainable packaging platform also includes a goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of a bottle or can for every one the company sells globally by 2030, and to make 100 % of its packaging recyclable by 2025.

The Food Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved the use of recycled PET in food packaging. Similarly, the Government of India’s, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Bureau of Indian Standards has enabled befitting regulations and standards to facilitate the use of recycled plastics in food and beverage packaging.

Coca-Cola is making it convenient for consumers to return their empty PET bottles by recycling them at conveniently placed drop-off points or Reverse Vending Machines (RVM’s). Earlier this year, Coca-Cola India launched a ‘Return and Recycle’ initiative with Zepto that focuses on gathering PET bottles directly from consumers. This also helps in establishing an organised process of collecting PET bottles with 100 % traceability. Specifically for India, Coca-Cola introduced ASSP (Affordable Small Sparkling Pack) for the 250 ml PET bottle. ASSP, a proprietary Coca-Cola innovative technology is used to reduce plastic usage in the production of PET bottles for sparkling products by up to 40 percent.

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, has won the coveted PPI Award in the Product Innovation category for its Hug&Hold packaging solution. The Fastmarkets Forest Products PPI Awards are the only global awards dedicated to recognising the achievements of companies, mills and individuals in the pulp and paper sector.

Hug&Hold is a paper packaging solution designed and developed to wrap and transport PET beverage bottles, replacing plastic shrink wrap. It is a recyclable 100% paper-based solution, comprising a kraft paper sleeve and a corrugated clip to secure the bottles and offer a comfortable handle for transportation.

The Product Innovation Award is presented to companies that demonstrate how a newly developed product solves an existing need or problem. Hug&Hold is perfect for FMCG brands and beverage producers, who want more sustainable packaging solutions that appeal to consumers and meet their product protection needs.

A sustainable, functional and fully automated alternative to plastic shrink wrap means that brand owners can safely switch to the recyclable paper-based packaging solution, without any risk to their product or logistics. With Hug&Hold, Mondi is the first to manufacture and market a complete concept, providing a strong and stable solution that is made from renewable and fully recyclable materials, suitable for existing paper waste streams throughout Europe.

Tarik Aniba, Sales & Marketing Director Corrugated Solutions at Mondi, says: “We are committed to making the most sustainable packaging solutions for our customers and we are very proud to see our innovations being recognised by our peers.”

Silvia Hanzelova, Sales Director Specialty Kraft Paper at Mondi, says: “Leveraging Mondi’s team of kraft paper and corrugated specialists, we were able to develop a fully paper-based solution with minimal material usage. Following thorough testing, Hug&Hold has been confirmed in terms of runnability and viability.”

The award ceremony took place in the city of Prague, Czechia, on 8 March 2023. Find out more about Hug&Hold, the responsible way to deliver your beverages.

In line with its goal to transition to 100 % recycled and plant-based PET bottles by 2030, the Suntory Group unveiled a prototype PET bottle made from 100 % plant-based materials partnership. The prototype bottle was developed in collaboration with US-based Anellotech for Suntory’s Orangina and Tennensui soft drinks brands in the European and Japanese markets, respectively. Given Suntory’s claims that its plant-based bottle overcomes several issues associated with bioplastics, it represents a step forward for the beverages industry towards the holy grail of biodegradable packaging, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Bobby Verghese, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Compostable/biodegradable plastics are presently a lower priority than recyclable packaging for Japanese consumers validated by as GlobalData’s Q3 2021 consumer survey. Only 30 % of Japanese respondents in the survey consider compostable/biodegradable an important factor in a product, when compared with 63 % of respondents who prioritize easy to recycle products*.

Verghese continues: “This is partly as consumers are disillusioned by earlier plant-based packaging innovations such as Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle, which failed to take off after the initial hype due to functional and cost challenges. Also, a large section of consumers are unsure how the biodegradable bottles will safeguard its contents.”

While bioplastics are touted as the penultimate solution for the plastic waste problem, most products have hitherto failed to match the performance of conventional oil-based plastics. Additionally, the cost of raw materials and overhauling existing manufacturing lines to accommodate bioplastics remain quite prohibitive. Moreover, bioplastics degrade only under specific ambient conditions, thereby posing an environmental threat. Furthermore, cultivating crops for producing bioplastics locks up agricultural land that could otherwise be used for food production.

Suntory claims its bioplastic material is made from two compounds, namely PTA and MEG, which are made from non-food biomass and non-food-grade feedstock, respectively, which minimizes its impact on the food chain. The plant-based bottle is claimed to be generate far lower carbon emissions than petroleum-derived plastic bottles.

Verghese concludes: “Suntory’s plant-based bottle can attract 39 % of Japanese consumers who consider products with reduced carbon footprint to be quite/extremely important, and 41 % of consumers who say the same for products that are sustainable/made from renewable sources^*. However, the pros and cons of the bioplastic will only come to light after the full-fledged market launch.”

^*Data taken from GlobalData’s Q3 2021 Consumer Survey – Japan with 527 respondents, published in September 2021

The non-alcoholic beverage industry, represented by the European Fruit Juice Association (AIJN), Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE) and UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe, calls on the European Commission for “priority access” to its recycled plastic (PET) material, or a similar mechanism that guarantees “right of first refusal”, to be incorporated in the upcoming revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.

As the beverage industry continues to invest in circularity and to put highly recyclable PET on the market, it needs to have priority access to its own recycled packaging material. This will help the beverage industry produce new packaging with food-grade recycled PET compliant with EU food safety standards, achieve its recycling targets and prevent its recycled PET being downcycled. Closing the bottle loop is required to ensure that the beverage industry meets the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) targets and contributes to building a more circular economy for beverage packaging.

Wouter Lox, Secretary General of the European Fruit Juice Association (AIJN), commented: ‘’Food packaging serves specific needs, but most importantly is to safeguard the food products quality, conserves the food and assures food product safety. Also every food product has its specific packaging material properties and requirements in order to assure the packaging purpose. The access to the packaging material is essential to continue providing high quality and safe foods. This requirement needs to be merged with the sector commitments to respond to the EU Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan. Therefore the access to the recycled material responding to the highest food quality standards needs to be reassured at every stage of the circularity circle.’’

Patricia Fosselard, Secretary General of Natural Mineral Waters Europe, stated: “Thanks to significant investments in collection schemes and in eco-design, PET bottles have become the most collected and recycled items around Europe. Through well-designed Deposit Return Schemes, several countries already achieve collection rates above 90%. Our members are determined to give every bottle a second life, but they can only do this if they get back the material that they place on the market so we can successfully close the loop.”

Nicholas Hodac, Director General of UNESDA, added: ‘’The entire beverage industry in Europe is fully supportive of the EU Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan and is committed to delivering full circularity for PET bottles. To get there, we need the European Commission to allow us to have priority access to our own recycled plastic material to meet our EU recycling obligations and avoid downcycling, which will break the bottle loop. It is just fair that we regain the equivalent quantity of collected and recycled material that we place on the market to move circularity forward.’’

The beverage industry is subject to several mandatory requirements under SUPD, one of which is that PET in bottles has to be food-grade to comply with EU food safety standards. In addition to introducing mandatory collection targets for PET bottles, SUPD also mandates the beverage industry to use a minimum of 25 % (by 2025) and 30 % (by 2030) of recycled content. The beverage industry’s commitment is not only to achieve these EU targets, but also to go much further by creating a closed loop for its PET bottles. Granting the beverage industry fair access to the amount of PET plastic material that it puts on the market and of which it finances the collection is key to promote effective bottle-to-bottle recycling.

More and more reuse and recycling schemes for beverage packaging are seen as efficient tools for reducing the environmental impact of packaging systems and for increasing their resource efficiency.

In this scenario, AROL REVERSE is becoming a must for all those bottlers looking for an effective response to unscrew pre-threaded plastic caps and threaded aluminium caps from glass and ref-pet bottles.

Reverse main features:

• Safe unscrewing of caps with a diameter from 28 to 38 mm
• Speeds up to 60,000 cph (1,000 cpm)
• 3 to 30 heads
• No cap – no decapping feature to prevent bottle neck damage
• Quick format change
• Special handling parts in stainless steel for ref-pet bottles to prevent scratches to bottles and give longer life to components
• Decapping heads completely in stainless steel
• Available with stainless steel cap discharge piping and container
• Flexible design to be adapted to the local condition of any plant
• Advanced inspection systems for height variance at the infeed and cap detection at the discharge.

About AROL
AROL was founded in 1978 and steadily grew as a global provider of capping solutions. It designs 100 % of its capping and caps sorting machines and it produces inside + 95 % of their parts.
700+ equipment delivered every year and 24.500+ installed all over the word in a vast variety of industries, from 1.000 to 90.000 BPH, make of AROL the largest specialist of customized solutions to any capping need.
The AROL technical support is available for the whole life cycle of the machine and counts on a highly skilled team of specialists operating from each of its 10 worldwide offices.
AROL is part of AROL Group, together with UNIMAC-GHERRI, specialist in filling and capping of glass, metal and plastic containers with twist-off and pre-threaded caps for dense, semi dense and pasty products; TIRELLI, focused on packaging equipment for the cosmetics industry and MACA Engineering S.r.l, specialist in designing and manufacturing machines for the production, assembly and cut of aluminium and plastic caps and closures.
The solutions proposed by AROL GROUP can serve therefore the beverage, beer, food, wine, spirits, personal care, chemical, household care and cosmetics industries.

The shift from fossil-based to renewable bio-plastics requires new efficient methods. New technology developed at VTT enables the use of pectin-containing agricultural waste, such as citrus peel and sugar beet pulp, as raw material for bio-based PEF-plastics for replacing fossil-based PET. The carbon footprint of plastic bottles can be lowered by 50 % when replacing their raw material of PET with PEF polymers, which also provides a better shelf life for food.

“In the near future, you may buy orange juice in bottles that are made out of orange peel. VTT’s novel technology provides a circular approach to using food waste streams for high-performance food packaging material, and at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” shares Professor of Practice Holger Pöhler from VTT”.

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and other polyesters are being widely used in food packaging, plastic bottles and textiles. The annual production of PET products is estimated at 30 million tonnes. Replacing fossil-based PET with plant-based PEF (polyethylene furanoate) polymers can lower the carbon footprint of the products by 50 %.

Moreover, the barrier properties of PEF plastics are better than PETs, meaning that the food products have a longer shelf life. PEF is a fully recyclable and renewable high-performance plastic. Therefore, it opens up possibilities for the industries to reduce waste and to have positive impact on the environment.

VTT’s technology has significant advantages for making bio-based PEF plastics. The technology uses a stable intermediate for the production of FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid), one of the monomers of PEF, which enables a highly efficient process. In addition, utilising pectin-containing waste streams opens up new possibilities for the circular economy of plastics.

VTT’s unique scale-up infrastructure from laboratory to pilot scale ensures that this new technology will be brought to a technology readiness level that will allow polymer manufacturers’ easy transition to full scale.

VTT has patented the technology, and the research has been published in the scientific journal Green Chemistry on 7 December 2020: A unique pathway to platform chemicals: aldaric acids as stable intermediates for the synthesis of furandicarboxylic acid esters

Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, has taken an important step on its journey towards 100 % rPET for its plastic bottles by funding CuRe Technology – a recycling start-up which seeks to provide a new lease of life for difficult to recycle plastic polyester waste.

The funding from CCEP, through its innovation investment fund, CCEP Ventures, will enable CuRe to accelerate its ‘polyester rejuvenation’ technology from pilot plant to commercial readiness. Once the technology is commercialised, CCEP will receive the majority of the output from a CuRe-licensed, new-build plant.

Once operational, CuRe has the potential to support CCEP’s ambition, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe, to eliminate virgin oil-based PET from its PET bottles within the next decade. This will contribute to removing of a total of over 200,000^* tonnes of virgin oil-based PET from CCEP’s packaging portfolio a year and support the transition to a circular economy for PET packaging.

CuRe Technology – a start-up, created and led by a consortium of world-leading recycling innovators and experts led by the Morssinkhof Group and the Cumapol/DuFor Group, with strategic partners DSM-Niaga and NHL Stenden University of Applied Science – will initially apply its end-to-end partial depolymerisation recycling process to transform opaque and difficult to recycle (ODR) food grade PET to high quality recycled PET (rPET) that can be used again for food and drink packaging in one continuous process on the same site.

Towards a Circular Economy

The CuRe funding from CCEP Ventures builds on existing strategic investments by The Coca-Cola Company to explore and support the scaling of ‘enhanced’ full depolymerisation recycling technologies in order to make a circular economy for PET a reality.

Depolymerisation recycling technologies complement existing mechanical polymer recycling processes. They have the potential to upcycle lower grade PET that cannot currently be recycled via mechanical recycling means and is instead currently downcycled, incinerated or sent to landfill. These depolymerisation technologies could play a role in significantly increasing the supply of rPET whilst also accelerating the transition to a circular economy for PET bottles by reducing the reliance on virgin oil-based PET.

The Coca-Cola system in Western Europe is working towards a future source vision for its PET material which will help remove the need for virgin oil-based PET (figurative future sources of PET in Western Europe: 70 % derived from mechanical recycling with 25 % from depolyemrisation recycling and 5 % PET from plant-based renewable sources, all while remaining 100 % recyclable^*).

About CuRe Technology

CuRe Technology uses a partial depolymerisation process – shortening the polymer chains just enough to allow the removal of many impurities and to rejuvenate food grade PET to high quality rPET – and can be less energy intensive than full depolymerisation offering lower associated C02 emissions. It’s like pressing a ‘reset’ button to partially break down plastic PET into its component building blocks to produce a high quality rPET. Due to the modularity of the process, the longer term ambition for this technology is to upcycle all polyester waste streams including product to product rejuvenation of carpets and textiles.

Joe Franses, Vice President, Sustainability at Coca-Cola European Partners said: “CuRe is an exciting technology start-up with transformational potential developed by an experienced consortium, making it an ideal investment for CCEP Ventures. Our investment in CuRe underlines our commitment to supporting innovations that have the potential to drive growth in our business and our sustainable packaging goals. It also offers us the potential to access vital rPET volume that will help to accelerate delivery of our 100% rPET ambition for our PET bottles.”

As part of their joint Sustainability Action Plan, This is Forward, Coca-Cola European Partners and Coca-Cola in Western Europe have pledged that by 2025, Coca-Cola will: collect a can or bottle for every one it sells and ensure that all its packaging is 100 % recyclable and by 2023 will: ensure that at least 50 % of the content of its PET bottles will come from recycled content, accelerating towards its ambition to use zero oil-based PET in its PET bottles in the future, using instead 100 % recycled or renewable content.

Josse Kunst, Chief Commercial Officer at CuRe Technology said: “Polyester is one of the world’s most reversible plastics and should not go to waste. In the pilot plant phase of the CuRe process, we were supported with a subsidy from the European Union and the three northern provinces of the Netherlands. Now our ambition to create an energy-efficient solution for product to product polyester transformation will be accelerated because of this funding.

The support of CCEP Ventures will enable us to start with opaque and difficult to recycle food grade PET and take the first step towards our ultimate vision of recycling all polyester, again and again.”

^*By 2019, CCEP was already using 60,000 tonnes of rPET in its bottle and has committed to using 50% rPET by 2023.

Ozarka^®, Deer Park^® and Zephyrhills^® join Poland Spring^® in using 100 % rPET bottles in multiple sizes. All Nestlé Waters North America U.S. domestic packaging continues to be 100 % recyclable.

Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) announced that three more of our U.S. domestic still water brands have started to convert their packaging to 100 % recycled plastic. Ozarka^® Brand 100 % Natural Spring Water, Deer Park^® Brand 100 % Natural Spring Water and Zephyrhills^® Brand 100 % Natural Spring Water packaging, which has long been 100 % recyclable, will now be both 100 % recyclable and made from 100 % recycled plastic. With the expansion of recycled plastic (rPET) to these brands, nearly 60 % of all households in the U.S. will have access to one of Nestlé’s regionally distributed spring water brands in bottles made entirely with recycled plastic.

The packaging conversion for these three brands means that NWNA has now doubled the amount of rPET used since 2019 across its U.S. domestic portfolio to 16.5 %. This step brings the company closer to achieving its goals of using 25 % rPET across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021 and 50 % rPET by 2025. By accelerating the use of rPET in its bottles, NWNA is leading the shift from virgin plastic to recycled plastic and helping to create an end-market for sustainable rPET. Using recycled plastic can help keep it out of landfills, waterways and oceans, and reduces greenhouse gases by 67 % compared to using new plastic¹.

To help consumers identify the new rPET bottles, all three brands will include a new message on the labels of the 20 oz, 700 mL, 1 L and 1.5 L bottles, stating they are both 100 % recyclable and now are also made from 100 % recycled plastic. To provide greater transparency about the source of the water, the labels will also include a QR code that allows people to scan and track the journey of the water they’re drinking, as well as the bottle. Ozarka will be launching a TV, digital and social media campaign this summer to inform Texans of the new rPET bottles. Understanding that bottles need to be recycled in order to create bottles with other bottles, Zephyrhills will be launching limited edition labels that encourage consumers to recycle through a bold message stating, ‘I’m Not Trash! I’m 100 % Recyclable.’ This message will accompany the “100 % recycled” message on the applicable bottle sizes.

NWNA’s ability to expand its use of recycled plastic partially relies on existing bottles being recycled when empty. Unfortunately, right now, less than 30 % of PET bottles are recycled and many recovered beverage containers are being down-cycled and used in non-food contact applications versus being made back into beverage containers. While giving a plastic beverage container another life in products such as carpets and textiles ensures one more use, it does not represent the highest and best use of food-grade recycled material. Recognizing these challenges in obtaining enough rPET to incorporate into more of our product packaging, NWNA will continue to work collectively with industry, NGOs, governments and consumers to address critical issues related to infrastructure, collection, policy, consumer education, and development of end-markets for recycled materials.

To help the underfunded and often outdated recycling infrastructure in the U.S., NWNA made a $6 million investment in the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund to support projects that help increase recycling capabilities throughout the country. In 2019, Poland Spring collaborated with The Recycling Partnership to launch the first Instagram recycling hotline to help Americans understand what is recyclable in their communities. NWNA was also the first beverage company to add How2Recycle information on the labels of its major U.S. brands, reminding consumers to empty the bottle and replace the cap before recycling.

¹Association of Plastic Recyclers (2018)

PepsiCo, Inc. announced that LIFEWTR^® will be packaged in 100 % rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate), and bubly^™ will no longer be packaged in plastic. The company’s AQUAFINA^® water brand will also offer aluminum can packaging in U.S. food service outlets, while the brand tests the move in retail. The changes, which all go into effect next year, are expected to eliminate more than 8,000 metric tons of virgin plastic and approximately 11,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, representing the latest ambitious steps in the company’s sustainability journey and pursuit of a circular economy for plastics. They reinforce and advance PepsiCo’s goals to by 2025 make 100 % of its packaging recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable and use 25 % recycled plastic content in all its plastic packaging.

“Tackling plastic waste is one of my top priorities and I take this challenge personally,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta. “As one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies, we recognize the significant role PepsiCo can play in helping to change the way society makes, uses, and disposes of plastics. We are doing our part to address the issue head on by reducing, recycling and reinventing our packaging to make it more sustainable, and we won’t stop until we live in a world where plastics are renewed and reused.”

Naked Juice, a category leader in premium fruit and veggie juices and smoothies, has been working since 2009 to ensure its bottles are made of 100 % rPET and can be turned into bottles again and again. By making its bottles with rPET, the brand also uses about 25 % less energy than if it used virgin plastic.

PepsiCo is one of the largest users of food-grade recycled PET in the world, and the company is also working to help reliably increase the supply needed to meet its packaging goals. In tandem with current suppliers and partners like The Recycling Partnership, Loop Industries, Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), PepsiCo is aiming to both increase recycling rates and improve the plastic recycling infrastructure.

Learn more about our sustainable packaging vision here.

SABIC introduced its LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ portfolio of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounded resins derived from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) to support the circular economy and help reduce plastic waste. By chemically upcycling consumer-discarded PET (primarily single-use water bottles) into higher-value PBT materials with enhanced properties and suitability for more-durable applications, the company is encouraging the use of recycled resins. These products also offer a smaller cradle-to-gate environmental footprint than virgin PBT resin, as measured by Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Global Warming Potential (GWP).

Better Properties, Longer Life than PET

SABIC’s LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ compounds and blends are based on upcycled iQ PBT resins, a proprietary SABIC technology. This technology overcomes some of the limitations of mechanical recycling by using chemical processes to depolymerize PET bottles and other PET waste into their precursor chemicals, purify them and then use them to create new PBT resin. The technology can deliver performance and processing benefits such as good chemical resistance, colorability, high flow for faster throughput and flame retardance (FR).

LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ resin is a drop-in solution for virgin PBT and other conventional PBT materials, making it easier for manufacturers to make their products more sustainable. By displacing virgin raw material used to manufacture PBT, LNP™ ELCRIN™ iQ resin has been shown through peer-reviewed life cycle assessment^[1] to reduce the energy and carbon footprint of the material by up to 61 percent and 49 percent, respectively. Further, each kilogram of LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ resin uses up to 67 post-consumer PET water bottles (0.5 liter).

The ELCRIN^™ iQ portfolio offers customers multiple options, including glass- and mineral-reinforced grades and non-halogenated FR and UV-resistant formulations. Some of the LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ grades even have the potential to achieve compliance with U.S. Food & Drug Association (FDA) food contact regulations.

Potential applications for these new polymers include durable internal and aesthetic components for consumer electronics, automotive connectors, and housings for medical devices. Such applications can extend the useful life of the original, single-use PET resin, which helps keep the material out of the waste stream for a longer period.

“Consumer-discarded PET bottles lose value and performance properties through conventional mechanical recycling,” said Joshua Chiaw, Global Business Director, LNP, SABIC. “This downcycling process limits the types of applications for which rPET can be used. In contrast, SABIC’s chemical upcycling process helps improve the performance and quality of the final resin product. As a result, these PBT materials are potentially more desirable for durable applications. Overall, LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ materials can help reduce reliance on virgin resin and address industry and consumer demand for greater use of more-sustainable materials.”

“The development of LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ materials is a major step forward for SABIC and illustrates our unyielding commitment to our customers, the global plastics industry, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, which we joined as a founding member,” said Frank Kuijpers, General Manager, Corporate Sustainability, SABIC. “Our innovative process for chemical upcycling of single-use PET directly supports the AEPW’s goal of developing new technologies that help minimize waste, make recovering and recycling plastics easier, and create value from all post-use plastics.”

SABIC LNP^™ ELCRIN^™ iQ grades are available worldwide.

^[1] The original peer-reviewed life cycle assessment study was completed by SABIC in 2011. The results are being reviewed and updated based on current models, with expected completion and peer-review in 2019.

Beatson Clark’s flexible service and centuries of experience proved to be the winning formula for premium soft drinks company Eager Drinks.

The glass manufacturer based in South Yorkshire has just finished its production run for over 200,000 new and unique glass bottles for Eager Drinks’ new mixer range – Cold Brew Tonics.

Eager, founded in 2007, approached Beatson Clark last year to help them package their first glass bottle drinks range. All of Eager’s other soft drinks, including its signature cloudy apple juice, are packaged using cardboard.

To ensure the success of the new range in a competitive market, founder of Eager Drinks Ed Rigg knew the look and feel of the bottle was imperative to its longevity in the soft drinks market.

“Owing to the fact that Cold Brew Tonics is our first range packaged using glass, we had strict criteria for its look, feel and quality to ensure it was in keeping with our brand and commitment on sustainability,” said Ed.

“We wanted a bottle which used recycled glass in some way and wanted it to look contemporary and modern yet traditional to the touch. We didn’t want an off-the-shelf design. We wanted a bottle which was going to make an impression in a competitive market.

“Beaton Clark’s approach matched our vision. In terms of flexibility, service and quality, they win every time compared to competitors in the UK and abroad.”

Working closely with Eager Drinks, Beatson Clark designed and produced a unique 200ml white flint glass bottle. The brief was to produce a container which looked modern and contemporary but had a traditional and vintage feel to it.

The container is heavier than a standard bottle to give a high-quality, premium feel in line with its intended consumer market. The bottle is embossed around the shoulder with the words ’EAGER’ and around the base with the words ‘PRODUCED IN SMALL BATCHES’.

Jonathan Clark, Account Manager at Beatson Clark, commented: “It’s been a pleasure to work with the Eager team from concept right through to production. As Ed has found out, what we offer in terms of service is only matched by the quality of the product we make.

“For an established drinks company entering the competitive mixer market for the first time, the packaging is just as important as the quality of what’s inside. The drinks are different to anything else on the market owing to the unique production process, and the packaging reflects that.”

Each flavour in the range – Tonic, Light Tonic, Smoked Tonic, Lemonade, Ginger Beer, Artisan Lemonade and Club Soda – is produced by packing bunches of dried fruit peel into hessian bags and placing the oil-rich rinds in cold water for 24 hours before the product is carbonated.

“Each mixer has a purer and deeper flavour than any other mixer drink on the market, so we wanted to make sure the taste is preserved for as long as possible. That’s why we chose glass, because it does that better than any other form of packaging and it’s 100 per cent recyclable,” said Ed.

The premium, high-end range was launched last month and is already on sale in bars, hotels and restaurants across the country.

100 % of Coca-Cola Amatil packaging to be recyclable by 2025, including bottles, cans, plastic wrap, glass and cardboard

Australian beverages manufacturer Coca-Cola Amatil announced a commitment for 100 per cent of its Australian packaging to be recyclable by 2025, including all bottles, cans, plastic wrap, glass and cardboard. The company will also work towards phasing out unnecessary single-use packaging through improved design, innovation or the use of recycled alternatives.
Group Managing Director Alison Watkins said the commitments were part of the National Packaging Targets announced by Federal Environment Minister, the Hon Melissa Price MP.

“As a beverages manufacturer, we’re serious about playing our part in addressing recycling,” Ms Watkins said.

“We’ve heard the community message loud and clear – that unnecessary packaging is unacceptable and we all need to work together to reduce the amount entering litter streams, the environment and the oceans.

“The National Packaging Targets aim to make a substantive improvement in packaging waste reduction, which is why we’re proud to be a founding supporter and to champion their implementation by industry.”

Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets are:

• 100 % of all Australia’s packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 or earlier
• 70 % of Australia’s plastic packaging will be recycled or composted by 2025
• 30 % average recycled content will be included across all packaging by 2025
• Problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging will be phased out through design, innovation or introduction of alternatives

Earlier this year the Mount Franklin 600 ml bottle was launched using 100 % recycled content, with trials under way on reaching an average 50 per cent recycled content across the Australian portfolio by 2020.

Ms Watkins said the Targets were in addition to existing commitments on plastics and packaging reduction, including the aspiration of “World Without Waste” – a Coca-Cola Company goal to collect and recycle one bottle or can for every one produced, worldwide, by 2030.

Amatil and brand partner and shareholder The Coca-Cola Company is also developing sustainable packaging goals to increase the recycled content in plastic bottles and support recycling collection in Australia. Recognising the threat of marine plastic litter, The Coca-Cola Company this week joined governments and industry leaders to sign onto the Ocean Plastics Charter. Originally adopted at the 2018 G7 Summit, the Ocean Plastics Charter calls on governments, industry and the public to rethink their relationship with plastics.