As the battle to tackle plastic waste rages on, ALPLA has teamed up with Austrian mineral water company Vöslauer to create a lightweight "returnable" plastic bottle, reportedly developed with 30% fewer emissions - the first of its kind in the country.
These new bottles could remain in use for between three-to-four years across as many as 12 use cycles. Credit: ALPLA
Weighing in at just 55 grams, the litre bottle has been designed to save on resources during production, which could decrease the potential environmental harm from each bottle.
Read more: Continental to make tyres using recycled plastic bottles
The new bottles, each of which comes marked with the Austrian Ecolabel, continues the partnership between the two Austrian firms that has been going since at least 2018, when the pair launched a plastic bottle made entirely of recycled plastic.
It was first unveiled to Austria’s Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler and Alexander Egit, Managing Director of Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe on April 20, 2022.
Reducing material use has slimmed the bottles down by around 90% when compared to their glass-based alternatives.
By making the switch from its traditional bottle line, it is estimated that Vöslauer could save approximately 400 tonnes of material per year and reduce its carbon emissions by around 420 tonnes.
"Returnable bottles" typically refer to bottles that can be returned to a retailer to allow for the bottles to be recycled, which would be confirmed with the return of a deposit placed when the bottle was purchased.
A similar scheme has been in place in Germany for several years, where customers pay a €0.25 levy on plastic bottles purchased from retailers, which is returned when the bottle is. Through similar schemes, these bottles will be returned to ALPLA.
In Austria, some form of this scheme has been in place since 1990 - specifically targeting refillable plastic bottles - with a 2021 government bill extending this to single-use plastics.
The light weight of the bottles also allows for more to be transported at once. The firm claims that "at least 30%" of the plastic used in the bottle can be salvaged during the recycling process.
Read more: Eastman's ambitious $1bn plastic recycling plans in France
It also estimates a single bottle could go through around 12 use cycles, giving it a cumulative shelf life of three-to-four years on average.
These types of bottles are apparently in demand in Austria, which styles itself as a hotbed for plastic recycling.
Vöslauer's two managing directors, Birgit Aichinger and Herbert Schlossnikl suggest the "majority of Austrians want to see returnable containers on the supermarket shelves."
They confirmed the new returnable bottle will replace the firm's previous one-litre two-way plastic bottle that was purchased with a similar levy.
Credit: ALPLA
"Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the environmentally sensible addition... We are the first company in Austria to create a light and practical alternative," they added.
PET plastics are the most common type of thermoplastic in circulation today. It is also by far the easiest to recycle as it involves being broken down with chemicals.
So-called "conscious consumption," in which people are more likely to take sustainability into account when deciding on which brands to buy from, has been on the rise in recent years. This has only been increased by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw both health-conscious and environmentally conscious thought increase amongst the general population.
Industry Europe spoke with analyst firm Accenture about this very phenomenon back in May 2021.
"People want to consume sustainably," said ALPLA's managing director for Central and Eastern Europe, Rainer Widmar, who claims that despite it being the "optimal solution" for the packaging sector, "there wasn’t a single product of this kind in the Austrian market until now."
"The returnable bottle illustrates how demand, a sense of responsibility, a hunger for innovation and technological expertise can aid in sustainability," he added.
ALPLA is looking at expanding its recycling throughput in Europe, and following its acquisition of Texplast, is looking to recycle around 75,000 tonnes of plastic bottles per year in Germany alone.
Read more: ALPLA targets 75,000 tonnes of plastic recycling in Germany
Much of the world's plastic ends up in the world's oceans, where it can be incredibly difficult to reclaim.
Until better solutions are developed, it may simply be better to control where the plastic bottles used by consumers end up to prevent the potential harm to marine ecosystems that plastic waste presents.
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