Natural Plastics

Building on its journey to become a leader in innovation and environmental sustainability, PepsiCo Beverages Canada today announced the introduction of the 7UP EcoGreen™ bottle, Canada's – and North America's – first soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic.

 

 

The development of the 7UP EcoGreen bottle is a significant achievement for PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and a breakthrough for the Canadian beverage sector because the company has identified a way to couple existing technology with the best sources of recycled PET plastic and best-in-class processing techniques to produce a 100 percent recycled PET, food-grade bottle that meets all regulatory requirements and is of the highest quality.  Creating a bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic for soft drinks is more challenging than creating a bottle for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure. 

 

 

By introducing the 7UP EcoGreen bottle in Canada, PepsiCo Beverages Canada will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used by approximately six million pounds over the course of one year. Studies published by the Association for Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclers in 2010, estimate this reduced use of virgin plastic will lead to a reduction of more than 30 percent in greenhouse gas emissions and more than 55 percent in energy use, based on current 7UP production levels.

"After three years of research and development, we have cracked the code to commercially develop a soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic, and Canada has proudly led the way," said Richard Glover, President, PepsiCo Beverages Canada. "Consumers want products and packaging that reflects their desire to protect the environment, and PepsiCo is committed to delivering on that with this kind of world-class innovation."

 

 

"At Pitch-In Canada we initiate recycling and composting programs to clean up and beautify streams, wilderness and urban areas," said Misha Cook, Executive Director, Pitch-In Canada, one of Canada's oldest not-for-profit environmental organizations. "Any action that reduces the use of virgin plastic by approximately six million pounds annually gets my nod of approval. I commend PepsiCo Beverages Canada and its 7UP brand for taking this important step, and I encourage other manufacturers to follow their lead. Together, we can make a significant difference."

 

 

The 7UP EcoGreen bottle will be available across all 7UP and Diet 7UP package sizes beginning in early August, and will look and feel like any other PET plastic soft drink bottle – consumers will not detect a difference to the packaging or refreshing taste of Canada's number one lemon lime soft drink.

 

 

The bottle will be produced in multiple PepsiCo manufacturing facilities across Canada. The company invested $1 million in production enhancements in its facilities, including resin handling systems and inspection systems. Although there will be an incremental cost to produce the 7UP EcoGreen bottle, PepsiCo Beverages Canada plans to price 7UP beverages on par with other soft drink brands. 

 

 

PepsiCo Beverages Canada's long-term plan is to increase the use of bottles made from 100 percent recycled plastic. Currently, PepsiCo leads the industry by incorporating an average of 10 percent recycled PET in its primary soft drink bottles in Canada and the U.S.

 

 

With this announcement, PepsiCo reinforces its steadfast commitment to Performance with Purpose and finding innovative sustainable packaging solutions. To drive progress against the company's goal of rethinking the way that it grows, sources, creates, packages and delivers its products to minimize the impact on land, PepsiCo adheres to the following guideposts for sustainable packaging:

• Reduce: Optimize the amount of packaging required through light weighting and minimizing the use of secondary and transport packaging. For example, Aquafina introduced the Eco-Fina bottle in 2009, the lightest bottle of its size among U.S. bottled water brands.
• Reuse: Reuse packaging materials and components.
• Recycle: Design packaging to be recyclable, use recycled content in our packaging and promote responsible recycling practices.  In May 2011, PepsiCo began offering five options of eco-friendly, recyclable and compostable cups to Foodservice customers in the United States.
• Renew: Leverage packaging materials derived from renewable sources, as PepsiCo did when it introduced the world's first 100 percent plant-based PET plastic bottle in March 2011.

In 2011, PepsiCo Beverages Canada was named one of Canada's top 50 socially responsible companies by Maclean's magazine.

To download high-resolution images of the 7UP EcoGreen bottle, and/or related video and images, visit multimedia.pepsico.com.

 

About PepsiCo Canada

PepsiCo's businesses in Canada are organized into two business units. PepsiCo Foods Canada includes Frito Lay Canada and the Quaker Foods & Snacks business. PepsiCo Beverages Canada includes Pepsi, Gatorade and Tropicana business. For more information about our sustainability efforts, please visit http://www.pepsico.ca/en/Purpose/Environmental-Sustainability.html.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses -- Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola -- also make hundreds of other enjoyable and wholesome foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. With net revenues of approximately $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment, including by conserving energy and water usage, and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support, and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

Naked Juice started using its 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic rPET bottle dubbed the reNEWabottle for its 32oz bottles back in 2009. (Read our story from July 2009)

The company has now switched its 10, 15.2 and 64oz bottles to the reNEWabottle becoming the first major national US drink company to switch to 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles - quite an achievement.

Naked estimates its new packaged will reduce virgin plastic consumption by 7.4 million pounds per year.

Source: www.sustainableisgood.com

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

The Pentaform®SmartCycle® film product line has been extended to include two new Pentaform® SmartCycle® films. Pentaform®SmartCycle® TH-ES135R is designed for use in RF sealing. Pentaform®SmartCycle® TH-ES150K is heat sealable to water-based, adhesive-coated cardstock. Both rigid PET films are made from post-consumer recycled bottles.

Designed to contain a minimum of 35% or 50% post-consumer recycled content, these innovative Pentaform® SmartCycle® films are engineered to be drop-in alternatives for traditional polymers sealed by these methods while helping meet customers’ sustainable packaging goals. With over 20 years of  polyester production experience, Klöckner Pentaplast is a leading global producer of rigid polyester films and is the exclusive global supplier of SmartCycle® packaging films.

Ideal for clamshells, blisters, trays, and other thermoformed applications, Pentaform®
SmartCycle® films offer exceptional processability on standard thermoforming and form/fill/seal equipment. These films are certified to meet domestic packaging regulations and exceed California and Oregon regulations for rigid plastic packaging containers.

SmartCycle® PET films provide a thermoformed plastic packaging option to consumer product companies and retailers while building long-term value by helping them move toward their sustainable  packaging goals. Because the SmartCycle® logo can be included on the plastic containers using this film, consumers can make educated choices on their purchases.

The SmartCycle® process of making packaging from recycled plastic bottles saves energy, natural resources, and, ultimately, will spur collection of bottles. Consumers are now able to return their Pentaform® SmartCycle® packages to Klöckner Pentaplast for recycling; thereby forming a closed loop and adding continued life to SmartCycle® branded packages. This begins with the distinctive

SmartCycle® logo derived from the petaloid base found on most PET bottles. For the consumer, the unique identifying mark is informative, reinforcing the benefits of bottle and package recycling. A key goal of SmartCycle® is to help people feel good about their packaging choice by conveying the story of sustainable packaging through the entire packaging value chain – consumers, retailers, OEMs, converters, and resource recovery plants.
“Pentaform® SmartCycle® films were developed to be drop-in alternatives for traditional polymers sealed by RF methods or heat sealable to water-based, adhesive-coated cards while helping meet customers’ sustainable packaging goals,” notes Peter Gianniny, Klöckner Pentaplast’s thermoforming packaging films business manager for the Americas. “The expansion of our thermoform packaging film range to include these unique films continues to provide our customers with the broadest selection of high-performance films available in the global marketplace today.”

About the Klöckner Pentaplast Group
The Klöckner Pentaplast Group is the world’s leading producer of films for pharmaceutical, medical device, food, electronics, and general-purpose thermoform packaging, as well as printing and specialty applications. Founded in 1965 in Montabaur, Germany, Klöckner Pentaplast has grown from its initial facility to 19 current production operations in 11 countries.

Source: www.kpfilms.com

Kitchenware industry leader, Robinson Home Products has tapped SABIC Innovative Plastics’ eco-engineered Valox iQ* resin for its new Green Street™ line of plastic kitchen utensils. A more sustainable, higher-performance material than traditional resins, Valox iQ resin utilizes upcycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles, diverting them from already bulging landfills. Equally important, this innovative product delivers the exceptional performance and quality that consumers demand in kitchenware, including heat and chemical resistance, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for food contact, and attractive appearance. SABIC Innovative Plastics’ investment in sustainable technologies helps companies like Robinson Home Products – a SABIC Innovative Plastics customer for over 30 years – achieve business success while promoting environmental protection.

“When we set out to create our new eco housewares line, we considered all aspects of the manufacturing cycle:  from choosing a nearby molder that generates its own power to manufacturing in the United States in order to reduce the environmental impact of shipping nearly 12,000 miles from Asia,” said Bob Skerker, chief executive officer, Robinson Home Products. “To find a sustainable thermoplastic for our Green Street line, we turned to long-time supplier SABIC Innovative Plastics to help us find the right solution. Valox iQ resin is now playing a critical role in enhancing the consumer appeal of these new utensils, helping us to strengthen our own eco-leadership position and grow our business.”

“Our versatile Valox iQ resins are adding value to the sustainability movement on a variety of fronts, from cutting fuel consumption and emissions in lightweight auto body panels to transforming discarded plastic into beautiful and useful housewares,” said Dennis VanPoppelen, product market leader Americas, SABIC Innovative Plastics. “We are investing in a wide range of other sustainability solutions to give customers even more options for reducing their products’ environmental impact without sacrificing performance or aesthetics. Needless to say, our customers are whole-heartedly embracing our efforts to deliver uncompromising performance combined with a lower environmental footprint.

A Greener Kitchen
Consumers are increasingly demanding products with lower environmental impact and Valox iQ resin is helping to address this need. The innovative resin is made from up to 60 percent upcycled post-consumer plastic waste, giving it a carbon footprint 50 to 85 percent lower than other engineered thermoplastics and extending the useful life of a PET bottle to 20 years. The Valox iQ resin product line includes Cradle-to-CradleSM certified grades, meaning that it supports a model that aims to eliminate waste entirely by circulating safe and healthful materials within closed-loop systems of continuous reuse.

In addition to its sustainability, Valox iQ resin offered Robinson the outstanding performance characteristics needed to support the company’s reputation for excellence. It withstands the demanding environment of the home kitchen, including exposure to cleansers, oils and grease, and high temperatures (up to 205 C/401 F) from cooking and automatic dishwashers. It can be custom colored and easily molded into unique and complex three-dimensional shapes, such as the distinctive branch design of the Green Street utensils.
Robinson’s Green Street products are now globally available.


Source:  www.sabic-ip.com.

Colorado-based Eldorado Artesian Springs has developed the product over the past eight years using recycled plastic. Known as rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) the new bottles are made from plastic previously used as packaging. Virgin PET is made mainly from natural gas feedstock.
The company’s vice president marketing, Jeremy Martin told FoodProductionDaily.com: “Using our RPET bottles, we are able to lower our impact on the environment drastically by keeping plastic out of the waste stream and lowering our carbon footprint. By using 100 per cent RPET, we save 77 per cent of the energy required to produce a virgin PET bottle.”

Greenhouse gas emissions
Adopting 100 per cent RPET bottles will reduce the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 58 per cent, according to NAPCOR (National Association for PET Container Resources).
After considering the use of corn-based plastics and biodegradable bottles, Eldorado chose to focus on RPET because it said this had fewer negative attributes then either of the other options.
Commenting on the bottle’s development potential, Martin said: “Right now, we are a very regional company but the largest seller of Colorado spring water. With our new RPET bottle we feel that we have the opportunity to expand our volume as well as our distribution area.”
Eldorado says the RPET used in its new bottle is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and meets the same safety standards as virgin plastic bottles.
The company also uses solar power in its manufacturing processes. Last September it installed a 100 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system that generates about half the firm’s energy needs.

Plant waste
About 96 per cent of its plant waste, including cardboard, paper and plastic, is recycled.
Meanwhile, last July two US food and beverage producers claimed to be the first in their respective sectors to switch to 100 per cent rPET packaging.
Naked Juice has said it would use 100 per cent post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PCR PET) plastic in its Naked reNEWable bottle.
And Earthbound Farm said it was the first in the fresh-cut salad sector to manufacture plastic clamshell packing from rPET.
At the end of last year, Canadian company Naya Spring Water claimed to be the first bottled spring water company in the world to use 100 percent recycled plastic in its bottles.
Nearly 6bn pounds of PET packaging waste was generated in 2007, with only 23 per cent recycled into new products, according the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). More than 4.5bn pounds of PET was sent to landfill sites.

Source:  Food production Daily (http://www.foodproductiondaily.com)

The spanish water bottler Veri is using recycled PET in the manufacture of all plastic containers of 1.5 liters.Each of the new PET bottles watermark uses 25% recycled material.The initiative is part of the strategy Veri environmental commitment, which has been reflected over the years a number of other initiatives such as the Integrated System Integration Management Ecoembes containers, the progressive reduction of 15% weight of the PET packaging or reduction of energy consumption.

Thanks to this improvement, which involved an investment of 450,000 euros, is substantially reducing the environmental impact of the company to reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources, minimize waste and reduce CO2 emissions.


Source:  www.mundoplast.com

Font Vella (Danone Group) has launched a bottle of 6.25 liters of water produced with 25% recycled plastic and is 100% recyclable.Under the brand Ecoligera Font Vella, the new bottle is made with 22% less plastic per liter of water contained, generating less waste.

The new bottle also a reduction of up to 29% in CO2 emissions, the rest of its large size, five and eight liters. This is equivalent to oxygen generating 15,000 trees a year.

Source:  www.mundoplast.com