The whole range will be made from 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) – while remaining 100% recyclable – by 2021. The first bottles of this type launched in November of this year.
Michel Beneventi, business executive officer for Nestlé Waters UK, said: “We are incredibly excited to be able to put our commitments to sustainability into practice. The high-quality recycled material retains the same all-important properties as PET, resulting in a product that is lightweight, durable, resilient and still 100% recyclable.
Need for food-grade rPET
“We would have liked to have made all our Buxton bottles from recycled material much sooner, but there are many challenges to achieving this. The material we use needs to be high-quality food grade.”
Beneventi pointed to the limited availability of a domestic UK supply of rPET and lamented having to source the material from outside the country.
“We would love to be able to produce the bottles for our British water in the UK,” he continued. “Therefore, we’re working with industry partners, non-governmental organisations and Government to improve the national recycling rate, supporting the UK-wide deposit return scheme and engaging with consumers about their recycling to help make a circular economy for plastics a reality.”
Sustainability programme
The move to make all Buxton water bottles 100% recycled and recyclable by 2021 is part of Nestlé’s wider sustainability programme. By 2025, Nestlé expects none of its packaging to end up in landfill and that it would all be recyclable or reusable.
Anna Turrell, head of sustainability for Nestlé UK and Ireland, added: “As a packaged goods company, we have a hugely important role to play in helping to address the amount of plastic produced in our industry and a collective responsibility to help shape a more sustainable future. We will continue to push the boundaries to address this challenge.
“We know more needs to be done and that we don’t have all the answers, but we are determined to get there.”
Meanwhile, Birmingham-based cider maker Aston Manor has turned to cardboard packaging to reduce the use of plastic across its range of multipack canned drinks.