BuzzBallz has blamed a “website error” for claiming its ready-to-drink cocktails were recyclable in the UK.
On its website, the brand said it “loves our planet as much as we love a good cocktail” and had partnered with TerraCycle to ensure its packaging gets recycled. However, the brand only partners with TerraCycle in the US and not in the UK, The Grocer understands.
Meanwhile, a now-deleted FAQ on its website said its packaging could be recycled in the UK “where local facilities allow”.
However, recycling experts have said BuzzBallz packaging – which comprises a PET sphere with an aluminium lid – cannot be recycled at kerbside in the UK.
Adam Herriott, the head of packaging at Wrap, said Buzzballz packaging was a made up of “two very recyclable materials fused together so they can’t be sorted effectively”.
Moreover, its packaging risked contaminating other recyclable materials if placed in kerbside recycling, he warned.
“The materials recovery facility (MRF) will identify it as plastic because it’s PET, and it will end up in the in the in the plastic stream,” he said. “Once that gets to the recycler, that metal is very problematic.”
Herriot said the spherical shape of Buzzballz’ drinks containers also made them prone to rolling into the wrong recyling streams at MRFs
“Its bad from a materials perspective, it’s bad from a shape perspective. It’s very problematic,” he added.
‘Overt greenwashing’
Freelance ESG marketing professional Lauren McGee agreed BuzzBallz packaging was “downright disastrous” from a sustainability perspective.
“The BuzzBallz brand feels like a regressive step for the drinks industry,” she said. “It has emerged at a time when we have plenty of knowledge about the damaging impact of single-use plastics, let alone packaging that cannot then be recycled due to mixed materials.
“The world doesn’t need another RTD brand generating excessive emissions and littering our streets. It needs more companies that think about the end life of a product while it is being created.”
Herriot cautioned consumers against trying to separate the PET and aluminium in Buzzballz packaging at home, however.
“I wouldn’t recommend consumers try and cut the aluminium off the plastic,” he said. “That could obviously could be quite dangerous in terms of cutting themselves. Those sharp bits could potentially then cause health and safety issues for any manual pickers. So I wouldn’t recommend they they take it apart, and I would never recommend people cut up material before putting in the recycling.”
A spokesperson for BuzzBallz said: “We very recently went through a global website update and the information pertaining to TerraCycle recycling for BuzzBallz was incorrectly copied and does not apply to the UK market as of today.
“We apologise for the oversight and have since updated our website to reflect the correct position for UK consumers.”
The company did not comment on the now-deleted UK FAQs stating its packaging was recyclable.
BuzzBallz is now the best-selling RTD brand in the UK, with sales of its boozy pre-mixed cocktails having climbed 717% to £102.6m in the past year [NIQ 52 w/e 30 May 2026].
Earlier this year, the brand quietly swapped out tequila for vodka in its best-selling margarita cocktail.
Its Lime ’Rita is now marketed as “a zesty lime margarita cocktail made with vodka, triple sec and natural flavours”, having previously contained “premium tequila”.
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