Luke Hutson
Drinks brands create thirst for rPET
Ribena and Innocent move to 100 per cent recycled content

And smoothie drinks maker Innocent says it is now supplying four of its recipes in new 100% rPET bottles.

Innocent says that it has been using bottles with a 25% recycled PET (rPET) content since 2000. This level of rPET increased to 50% in 2005. The move to rPET means a 55% reduction in the overall carbon footprint of Innocent drinks.

A spokeswoman for Innocent told PRW.com the company sources the material from Europe.

Demand in the UK for rPET greatly outstrips supply. The latest figures from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) peg current UK demand at approximately 60,000 tpa, while UK output is forecast to reach 50,000 tpa by 2009.

Closed Loop London is building a 35,000 tpa plant in Dagenham, East London (see PRW 16 March 2007) which is scheduled to come on stream next year and produce 9,000 tonnes of food-grade material.

Intercontinental Recycling intends to have its 15,000 tpa, hot-wash flake plant in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, up-and-running before the end of the year; and JFC Recycling, in Merseyside, is installing a 9,000 tonne, hot-wash facility that should be fully commissioned by the end of 2007.

Hot washed flake on its own is not food-grade quality, but it can be processed into food-grade material.

A possible rival to rPET in the drinks market is polylactic acid (PLA), a bioplastic derived from corn.