Volvic and Evian go plastics-neutral
Britain's top bottled water brands Volvic and Evian are to go plastics-neutral in the country's first ever true "closed loop" plastics recycling initiative.
Not only will this extraordinary scheme - endorsed by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) - save 5,000 tonnes of PET plastic from landfill in its first year alone, it will also cut CO2 production and is a completely sustainable business model for Danone Waters in the UK!
"Environmental awareness and responsibility have always been part of Danone's DNA, this exciting new initiative comes on top of substantial reductions in the amount of plastic we use per bottle," said Nick Krzyzaniak, general manager of Danone Waters (UK & Ireland) Ltd.
"This UK-based scheme will also help Evian and Volvic towards our ultimate aim of becoming truly carbon-neutral by 2011. The closed loop plan means that for every Evian and Volvic bottle sold here in the UK, one bottle will be recycled and the plastic reused.
"That's quite a step forward for our industry and the environment."
The scheme was hailed by Richard Swannell, Director of Organics and Retail at the Waste & Resources Action Programme, which helps individuals, business and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more.
"We welcome the Danone Waters UK plan to try and reduce the environmental impact of its packaging by securing more material for incorporating back into its bottles," Swannell said.
"Incorporating recycled PET into bottles has a clear environmental benefit in reducing the carbon footprint of bottle manufacture, and using fewer natural resources.
"The Danone Waters PET bottle recycling initiative demonstrates that, contrary to some recent news coverage, there is a robust market for good quality UK recycled materials, and that major brands recognise the role they can play in encouraging recycling of their packaging after use."
A "closed loop" is the holy grail of the recycling industry, returning the material used in a manufacturing process back to that same process for re-use.
While it's not practically possible to recover every Volvic and Evian bottle used in the UK, Danone will guarantee the purchase of an equivalent tonnage of used PET bottles and will return that plastic for processing by Danone contractors.
In this way we know that the PET will make its way back into Volvic and Evian bottles.
The containers used to transport the compacted bottles down to Dijon in France would otherwise have travelled empty, meaning that the scheme will actually reduce Danone's overall carbon footprint.
In fact, the use of rPET significantly reduces the carbon footprint of plastics materials. And to cap it all, by saving money on virgin PET, Danone will actually be able to reinvest £250,000 in environmental projects in the first year alone - proving a sustainable business model can be truly green!
There are broader benefits for the environment, too. The plastic we recover in this way will be processed in Europe and not transported to facilities in the Far East, with all of the well-documented problems that brings with it.
And, by increasing the amount of PET that is recovered in the UK and recycled, Danone hopes to "prime the pump" for more initiatives of this sort in the food and beverage industries.
Collection and baling of the PET bottles will be undertaken by haulier Greenstar at its Walsall depot, and as part of the scheme Greenstar will invest an additional £500,000 in Volvic-branded recycling activities in the UK over the coming three years.