Volvic's sugar-based PET bottle hits the UK

Danone-owned water brand Volvic has launched its ‘greener bottle’, made with 25% recycled plastic and 20% plant material, on the UK market.

The bottle has a 38% lower packaging carbon footprint and 16% lower lifecycle footprint than the previous 50cl Volvic bottle, thanks to the materials used. The plant material – BioPET – is made from PET produced using some feedstocks manufactured from fermented and dehydrated sugarcane waste. The resulting bottle is 100% recyclable, says the firm.

The bio material is made in India, using sugarcane molasses from the country, spokesperson Felicity McKane told European Plastics News.

Volvic is also reducing the weight to 15g from 17g and the bottles, which are already on sale in France and Germany, are manufactured at the company’s own facilities in France.

McKane said that the company is not commenting on how the initiative will affect manufacturing costs but said that consumers will not pay more for their regular bottled water purchases.

Stéphane Cousté, director of the nature committee at Evian Volvic Worldwide, described the new design as a “real breakthrough”, which is part of plans to reduce the global carbon footprint of the Volvic brand by 40% by 2012.

Over the past 15 years, Volvic has reduced the weight of its plastic packaging by 30%, claims the firm.

Source: www.europeanplasticsnews.com