Suntory products
Suntory Beverage and Food Europe (SBFE) has set out its plan to move to 100% sustainable plastic bottles within a decade, fully moving away from virgin plastic derived from fossil fuels, mirroring the Suntory Group’s global ambition.
By 2030, the company that makes some of Europe’s best loved drinks – including Lucozade, Orangina, Ribena and TriNa – will aim to use plastic that has been previously used or bio-sourced (plant-based) to reach its 100% sustainable plastic packaging target.
Embracing existing mechanical recycling processes – and investment in new, innovative technologies like enzymatic recycling and Japanese Flake to Preform processing – will be crucial for helping the company to make the change.
By accelerating its existing efforts, and through supporting deposit return schemes across Europe, the company will initially use 50% sustainable plastic packaging (rPET) across primary packaging by 2025.
Peter Harding, CEO Suntory Beverage and Food Europe said, “It is our founding promise to coexist with people and nature. Plastic waste is not acceptable – and we are investing to find new and innovative solutions to address this global issue.”
The move is in line with the Suntory vision of Growing for Good and is a key component of the region’s sustainability framework that calls for action to respect natural resources by using less and better packaging and producing less waste.
Harding adds, “Our priorities are limiting our impact on natural resources, eliminating waste, and reducing our carbon footprint. The changes and innovations we are making are massive – they are set to remove thousands of tonnes of new plastic made from fossil oil from our manufacturing operations every year. This will also contribute to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions since sustainable plastic has a lower carbon footprint than making new plastic.”
SBFE has already started to make the change with the announcement of a consortium with Carbios, a company pioneering new, bio-industrial solutions to reinvent the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers.
For its packaging to be fully sustainable SBFE is also making its packaging 100% recyclable to enable bottle-to-bottle recycling. It will increase consumer communications and marketing campaigns to encourage recycling and responsible disposal and, will ensure all packaging is clearly marked to show how it should be recycled.
Reducing plastic in its supply chain will continue to be a key focus. Initiatives will focus on eliminating plastic waste, further light weighting bottles and exploring innovative and alternative sources of materials to replace plastic.
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