3 Mins Read
Jabil Packaging Solutions unveiled a new sustainable hybrid bottle for the bottled water brand Vittel in an effort to massively reduce plastic and instead use elements like 100% recyclable components along with a snap-apart design that will help in recycling sorting.
U.S.-based manufacturing services company Jabil Packaging Solutions launched its latest packaging prototype—an Eco bottle product platform for Nestlé’s French mineral water brand Vittel.
Along with Jabil-acquired Ecologic Brands, which designs bottles from recycled cardboard and newspaper, the bottle’s design can be easily scalable and uses 80% recycled paper and 20% recycled plastic (cap included) collected from high-volume waste sources, thus reducing over 50% plastic compared to Vittel’s original 1-liter bottle.
In addition, the bottle has a patent-pending tear strip, facilitating the separation of paper and plastic making it easier to recycle.
Innovating Bottles, Decreasing Plastic
“True innovation in sustainable packaging requires a holistic view of the product that goes beyond aesthetics, material selection and design features,” senior business unit director of Jabil and founder of Ecologic Brands, Julie Corbett said in a statement shared with Green Queen. “Our goal is to innovate around the entire life cycle of the bottle, not only to decrease the use of plastic. That’s why the Eco.bottle product platform is engineered to drive plastic reduction, improve carbon footprint and optimize the consumer recycling experience.”
The hybrid bottle’s two-shell system is enabled by interlocking paper tabs that can be nested during transit and warehousing thus reducing the extra space in the supply chain with a possibility of even lessening the delivery trucks by 50-60%.
Our goal is to innovate around the entire life cycle of the bottle, not only to decrease the use of plastic. That’s why the Eco.bottle product platform is engineered to drive plastic reduction, improve carbon footprint and optimize the consumer recycling experience
Julie Corbett, senior business unit director of Jabil and founder of Ecologic Brands
The project began last year, and with Vittel’s know-how of mineral water bottling and Jabil’s knowledge about conversion tech, the duo created what it claims as the thinnest 1-liter plastic liner in the market using just 9.2g of recycled plastic and a functional outer shell developed out of certified Forest Stewardship Council recycled material.
More Than Reducing Waste
Senior vice president of Jabil and CEO of Jabil Packaging Solutions, Jason Paladino said that CPG companies need to do more than just saying they’ve reduced their waste. “They now also need compelling solutions for repurposing that waste. Jabil’s Box-to-Bottle manufacturing platform allows us to take our customers’ waste and incorporate it into our manufacturing process within our facilities in Manteca, California and Tortosa, Spain. This fully accountable and traceable manufacturing platform provides forward-thinking brands like Vittel with unparalleled visibility into the circularity of their products.”
Consumer testing will begin this month and the bottle will be showcased to the press during the scheduled Tour de France, happening from June 26 through July 18, 2021.
Jabil’s Box-to-Bottle manufacturing platform allows us to take our customers’ waste and incorporate it into our manufacturing process within our facilities in Manteca, California and Tortosa, Spain
Jason Paladino, senior vice president of Jabil and CEO of Jabil Packaging Solutions
Read: Bottle-Fed Babies Ingesting ‘Millions’ Of Microplastics Every Day, New Study Finds
Apart from this, Nestlé has worked on a GO system for Vittel that is made of a reusable hard protective case designed to carry 50cl refills of the brand’s natural mineral water containing 40% less plastic than its traditionally made 50cl bottle.
Elsewhere, beverage giant Coca-Cola announced that it will conduct a trial of its new 100% recyclable paper-based bottles in Hungary; Scotch whisky maker Johnnie Walker plans to debut a 100% plastic-free bottle; Bacardi aims to ditch 80 million plastic bottles that it manufactures and instead opt for a biodegradable version made from PHA, developed from natural oils of plant seeds like palm, canola and soy; and even Indian Himalayan town Lachen in Sikkim launched reusable bamboo water bottles which tourists can use in an effort to reduce the country’s massive plastic waste crisis.
Read: Hong Kong’s Plastic Bottle Bill Looks Set For Failure, Here Are 8 Reasons Why
Lead image courtesy of Ecologic.
Author
