Volvic’s ‘Greener bottle’ will be made from 20% sugarcane waste
VOLVIC launches the UK’s first PET plastic bottle made with renewable, plant-based material
Monday 20th September 2010, London, UK: VOLVIC Natural Mineral Water today 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.
“The GREENER BOTTLE is a real breakthrough for us and a genuinely cutting edge innovation”, says Stéphane Cousté, director, nature committee, Evian Volvic Worldwide. “What we’re announcing today 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.”
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, we will reduce the weight of the GREENER BOTTLE from 17g to 15g, which will halve the carbon footprint of the current Volvic bottle.
“Volvic has an established heritage of working hard to reduce our impact on the environment. We have cut the amount of plastic in our bottles by 30% over the last 15 years,” says Nadine Slyper, marketing manager, Volvic UK. “But it doesn’t stop there. Brand new technology has enabled us to create this revolutionary new plastic and we’re thrilled to be the first to bring it to UK consumers.”
The Volvic megabrand, with sales of £113m**, is one of the top 10 soft drink brands in the UK. It is the leader in flavoured water with Touch of Fruit and is the number two plain, still water brand.
About Volvic Natural Mineral Water
The Volvic brand is made up of both natural mineral water and flavoured natural mineral water ranges and is represented in over 60 countries. Volvic is sourced from the lush green Volvic volcano, in the largest chain of volcanoes in the French Auvergne where it is filtered through six layers of volcanic rock and therefore has a unique volcanic mineral composition. Volvic has sustainability at the heart of the brand and, over a number of years, has made progress towards lowering its impact on the environment; it has reduced the weight of its packaging plastic by 30% over the last 15 years and makes its bottles from 25% recycled PET.
www.volvic.co.uk
www.danone.co.uk
For more information please contact:
Felicity McKane
External communications manager
Danone Waters (UK & Ireland)
felicity.mckane@danone.com
Direct: +44(0) 208 799 5833
Mobile: +44 (0) 7717 483 549
Notes to editors
* Carbon footprint calculations: In 2007, Groupe Danone developed a tool for measuring the carbon footprint of our products, audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers and certified by the Carbon Trust and ADEME, called Danprint. Today, it provides measurements of the C02 from upstream to downstream on all activities of the group. The carbon reduction figures for the new Volvic GREENER BOTTLE have been calculated using this methodology, for the bottle specifically.
**£113m, Value Sales AC Nielsen MAT to we 04.09.2010.