Suntory Beverage & Food is to splash £6m on making Lucozade Sport more environmentally friendly.
The soft drinks giant is transitioning bottles of Lucozade Sport into 100% rPet, in a move it claims will save 3,400 tonnes of virgin plastic being produced each year.
The bottles will also be given a smaller label, reducing the volume of plastic used previously. Previous labels were also recyclable, but the new ones feature on-pack recycling prompts, ensuring “that the bottles can be sorted into the clear waste stream to be recycled back into bottles at UK recycling centres”, said the brand.
Overall these changes would remove 3,500 tonnes of virgin plastic from the supply chain and 9,000 tonnes of CO2, it added.
The bottles “not only look great but mark a hugely exciting step in our sustainable plastic packaging journey”, said Suntory Beverage & Food Great Britain & Ireland sales director Alpesh Mistry.
“Our shoppers want to do their bit for the environment and from the end of this year they will be able to buy a bottle of Lucozade Sport knowing that if recycled, it can be turned back into another bottle.”
It’s the latest in a series of major moves from the supplier to crack down on plastic in its portfolio.
Last year, for instance, it relaunched Ribena in new 100% rPET bottles with their plastic sleeves reduced to increase their chances of returning to circulation faster. It also ditched plastic straws from its Ribena cartons, replacing them with 100% recyclable paper straws.
SBF GB&I will turn its attention to Lucozade Energy next year, with plans to switch the drink into 30% rPET bottles and introduce a 50% reduced sleeve.
No comments yet