Evian Lightweight Bottle to Cut Carbon By a Third

by | Mar 17, 2011

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Evian water will move to a lighter bottle made of up to 50 percent recycled PET, in a move that will reduce the bottle’s carbon footprint by almost a third, brand owner Danone Waters has announced.

The 1.5 liter Evian bottle will use 11 percent less plastic and weigh 3.4g less than the previous design, down to 28.6g. These changes will reduce the bottle’s carbon footprint by 32 percent, Danone Waters said. The bottle will remain 100 percent recyclable.

The new bottle is “even easier to crush” than its predecessor, taking up less space in recycling bins, Danone said. Evian introduced compactable bottles 15 years ago.

Evian has a goal to cut CO2 emissions by 40 percent between 2008 and the end of 2011.

“With the launch of our latest bottle which is lighter and more compactable, we hope that our consumers will feel good about purchasing Evian, and feel encouraged to recycle,” said Jerome Goure, vice president of marketing for Danone Waters of America.

Several major food and drink businesses have announced packaging changes recently. PepsiCo unveiled a PET bottle made entirely from plants. Coca-Cola recently formed a joint venture to develop a facility that it said will more than double the amount of PET bottles recycled in Great Britain. It also recently struck a deal to allow H.J. Heinz to use its PlantBottle, which comprises up to 30 percent plant matter.

In related news, a study by packaging researchers Pira International projects that the global market for bioplastic packaging will grow at a 25 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010 to 2015 before slowing to 18 percent CAGR in the five years to 2020. Demand is forecast to reach 884,000 tons by 2020.

Demand will gradually shift from biodegradable and compostable polymers, towards biopackaging based on renewable and sustainable materials, Packaging Digest said. Technology will evolve with the commercialization of bioplastics produced from genetically modified organisms, as well as the introduction of non-biodegradable bio-derived polyethylene. Pira projects that these materials will make up a quarter of the bioplastic packaging market by 2020.

According to the report, materials do not have to be biodegradable to be considered bioplastics.

In other packaging news, Dow AgroSciences is now using shipping boxes made of a minimum of 80 percent post-consumer recycled content, Lawn & Landscape reports. Dow is using the boxes for pest management and crop protection products made in North America.

Dow AgroSciences began investigating the use of higher recycled paper content in 2008, when its shipping boxes contained only 20 percent recycled material, Lawn & Landscape said. The new boxes will save more than two million pounds of solid waste, 13.5 million gallons of waste water, three million pounds of carbon and 33,400 virgin trees a year.

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