Closed Loop Recycling (Dagenham / UK; www.closedlooprecycling.co.uk) has started supplying recycled, food-grade PET to soft drinks company Britvic (Chelmsford / UK; www.britvic.com) for use in its “Drench” spring water bottles. The agreement foresees an initial trial programme for about one million 500ml Drench bottles containing 10% rPET. As part of the contract, Closed Loop Recycling will provide Britvic with 4,000 t/y of recycled material, delivered directly to the company’s preform bottle manufacturer Constar (Leeds / UK; www.constar.net).

Closed Loop say this is the first time a British drinks brand has used UK-sourced, post-consumer, recycled PET in its bottles. The new Drench bottles have a carbon footprint that is 6% less than that of bottles made of virgin PET.

“Packaging and recycling are top of the list of environmental concerns for consumers when it comes to soft drinks,” said Graham Dale, head of quality, safety and environment at Britvic. “Using UK-sourced rPET is just one of many measures Britvic is putting in place to limit its impact on the environment.” As part of this plan, Drench 500ml PET bottles realised weight savings of 17% in 2009.

Closed Loop managing director Chris Dow commented that his company is working with a growing number of brand owners and retailers to introduce more sustainable packaging. Its Dagenham plant can recycle 35,000 t/y of food-grade PET and HDPE bottles – see Plasteurope.com 11.07.2008 – and is now supplying half the UK dairy industry’s rHDPE.