Volvic Natural Mineral Water has launched its new ‘Greener Bottle’ made partially from sugarcane waste. Volvic has developed brand new technology to create a 100% recyclable PET plastic using this renewable plant material, and is the first company to introduce it in the UK.
Existing PET bottles are made from non-renewable petroleum. However, the new Volvic 50cl Greener Bottle – available from December this year – will contain 20% plant material, reducing the amount of non-renewable material needed to create the bottle.
The new Greener Bottle will have a 38% lower packaging carbon footprint and a 16% lower total lifecycle footprint than the previous 50cl Volvic bottle. This reduction is achieved through incorporating 25% recycled plastic from previously used bottles and using the new plant-based plastic, BioPET. BioPET is created by combining PET with fermented and dehydrated sugarcane waste, a natural and renewable waste product from the production of sugar from sugarcane.
Additionally, Volvic will reduce the weight of the Greener Bottle from 17g to 15g, which will halve the carbon footprint of the current Volvic bottle.
“The Greener Bottle is a real breakthrough for us and a genuinely cutting edge innovation,” says Stephane Couste, director, nature committee, Evian Volvic Worldwide. “What we’re announcing is just the first step to integrating renewable materials into our bottles and is a key milestone in our journey to reduce the global carbon footprint of the Volvic brand by 40% from 2008 to 2012.”