"Americans discard 38 billion plastic water bottles a year, and it takes 1.5 billion barrels of oil to produce them."
Two from the UK. First, this story on fully recyclable bottles (PET) from the oddly named Innocent brand :
UK-based Innocent claims to be the world's first beverage manufacturer to package its brands in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles made only from recycled material.The group, which is one of the UK's leading smoothie brands, claimed on Friday to have become the world's first manufacturer to package its brands in bottles made from 100 per cent recycled material.
More good news on the plastic recycling front; Ribena, a major soft drink manufacturer in the UK, is moving to recycled bottles now and fully recyclable bottles later:
Ribena is relaunching its full range of ready-to-drink products in 100% recycled plastic bottles next month. It claims it is the first soft drinks company to make the change. The GlasxoSmithKline-owned brand has been using bottles with 40% recyclable Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) but it will now increase to 100%. The bottle cap and sleeve will be fully recyclable but not made from recycled materials. The packaging for the Ribena squash range will also be moved to 100% recyclable PET over the next six months.
Time for a Coke, anyone? Here in these United States of America, Coke and Pepsi are also moving in the right direction; this story from msnbc shows signs of change:
A widespread consumer and government attack on bottled water would hit a multibillion dollar industry and deprive Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé and others of a significant source of profits in a market that has grown rapidly because of consumers' preference for non-fizzy, healthier drinks.
Coca-cola says it can "achieve its goal of recycling all its plastic bottles within five years." Better late than never. Pepsi, for its part, merely says that it "would 'do more' to recycle plastic containers." This is news to be hailed? Maybe we should all switch to drinking Coke.
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