This Recycle Week, evian has launched a new recycled plastic (rPET, or recycled polyethylene terephthalate) prototype bottle using revolutionary technology from clean technology company Loop Industries (Nasdaq: LOOP). This marks a significant milestone in evian’s 2025 circularity journey, which will see it accelerate the transition to 100%* recycled plastic in all its plastic bottles.
As the demand for more sustainable packaging solutions continues to grow, Loop Industries offers transformational technology that allows no and low value PET plastics (that will otherwise go to waste) to be recycled endlessly into new, virgin-like PET plastic. The process uses ground-breaking technology to break down plastic into its base building blocks, or monomers. The monomers are then purified and repolymerized into Loop™ PET plastic. This innovative technology allows more plastic to be kept in use, reduces reliance on fossil fuels and avoids the creation of new plastic.
The cutting-edge technology enables a continuous loop for recycling at large scale, meaning that all types of PET plastic waste – from discarded gym bags to flip flops (and even ocean, colored and opaque plastics, as well as polyester fibers) – can be transformed into high quality plastic bottles. To bring to life this latest concept, evian has renamed its prototype bottles to ‘evian Loop’ to highlight each bottle’s recycling potential.
evian’s partnership with Loop Industries spans four years, during which time Loop Industries worked diligently on perfecting its technology for commercial production on a global scale. The partnership will see this pioneering technology rolled out across markets beginning in 2022 and is part of evian’s continuous effort to lead the shift and accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions. This will allow evian to recycle and repurpose more and more existing plastic waste, bringing them one step closer to their 2025 circularity objective.
Commenting on today’s launch, Shweta Harit, VP of Marketing at evian, said: “Keeping plastic out of nature and within the circular economy is a key priority for evian as we continue to work to become part of the solution to tackle environmental issues. A new era of sustainability, this latest innovation launch is a gamechanger and an important milestone on our ambitious sustainability journey. By partnering with Loop Industries, we can look to accelerate our drive to keep the use of virgin plastic to an absolute minimum, whilst also preserving the uniqueness and purity of our natural mineral water.”
Daniel Solomita, Founder and CEO of Loop Industries, said: "We are proud to announce an important milestone in the commercialization of our technology, with the first commercial production of consumer beverage bottles made entirely from Loop™ branded PET resin using 100% recycled content. We are particularly proud that this milestone is being achieved in partnership with iconic global beverage brand evian. With the completion of our small-scale production facility in Terrebonne Quebec, we are now producing commercial volumes of PET resin for global brand companies, using local waste plastic that would otherwise not be recycled. In addition, we look forward to beginning the roll out of Infinite Loop™ manufacturing facilities in North America, Asia and Europe, including our recently announced strategic partnership with SK geo centric.”
This latest announcement follows a number of product innovations from evian as part of its circularity journey, including Label Free, Bottles made from Bottles, and most recently (re)new. (re)new was launched in several key markets earlier this year to help consumers looking to hydrate with natural mineral water at home dispenser; a collapsible bubble that contains 60% less plastic than a typical 1.5 litre water bottle (1), whilst holding nearly 3 times the volume.
As evian looks to the future it has ambitious targets to help preserve the planet for generations to come and is committed to seeking zero plastic waste and further accelerating its recycling initiatives. By 2025 it will become a circular brand, making all of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic*.
www.loopindustries.com www.evian.com
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*Excluding the cap and label
The caps and labels on evian’s bottles are not produced from the same type of plastic (rPET) that is used to produce their bottles. HDPE and OPP plastics are used in order to help preserve water purity and quality for consumers. HDPE and OPP plastics are recyclable and evian encourages consumers to check their local recycling listings and recycle all evian bottles in the correct steam so that they can be reused. evian is committed to continuous improvement and is working to offer the best packaging solutions.
(1) Compared, per litre of water, to a 1.5L evian® bottle (3.33 x 1.5L evian® bottles)
