our brand new 100% recycled plastic bottles

We've been working on the rest for a while. But today is when we can finally announce that we got to 100%.

Our bottles are now made from 100% recycled plastic. It's a world first, and heralds a huge reduction in our carbon footprint. Here are some facts, comparing the new bottle's impact versus the old 50% recycled version:

• 20% reduction in materials (we've made the bottle lighter)
• 55% carbon reduction
• 100% recycled content
• 100% recyclable
• 100% food safe

Next up, we're changing our label paper so that it's made from 25% recycled content and 75% FSC certified paper, and we'll be working on getting this better too.

Making our business better involves a series of steps. Sometimes they're small and almost unnoticeable; sometimes they're pretty big and have a large impact on the way we treat the planet. Today is one of the slightly bigger days, but we'll keep doing the small stuff too. We'll keep working on the rest, because we want to build a company that we can be proud of.

Comments

[Chris P]

That is excellent news!!

When you work on the labels can you make the glue a bit easier to get off. I tried everything I could think of to get the glue off so I could reuse the bottles but couldnt.

[Nicky]

Fantastic! Innocent just keeps getting better (and you were great to start with). Keep up the good work.

[allister marsh]

Love the stuff you make. We probably drink our way through about 8 litres a week. However as a recycling aware family we find that tetra packs are pretty unfriendly. Am I wrong and if Im not do you have any plans to change the packaging. Great stuff though and a good vibe. Keep it up

[tansy]

Hi Allister,

Thanks for the query about Tetra recycling. We think about all levels of our packaging pretty hard, so if you're keen, you can read all about our thoughts here:http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/?Page=our_ethics

With reference to Tetra particular though, the reason we use cartons is that they ensure that our drinks remain fresh which means less waste.

This has a large positive environmental impact as wasted food is wasted energy. As importantly, they use very little material (extremely light) and are made from sustainable resources (managed coniferous forests to ensure the trees are constantly regenerated).

Despite most people thinking otherwise, our cartons are fully recyclable. The issue is that most UK councils currently don't recycle them, in the same way that most councils didn't take plastic bottles 5 years ago.

Cartons are a great packaging format, we just need to put pressure on our respective councils to pick them up as well as other recyclable materials. It sounds as if your council isn't on board yet, so if you want to help, we've made a template for a letter you can send to your council, which can be found at http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/council.htm

Tetra Pak provided an initial £300,000 National Recycling Fund last year, and along with industry partners in ACE UK, they have invested a further £1.2m to support local authorities in setting up recycling and collection facilities. They are now offering a cost neutral bring bank solution to all local authorities that are not yet collecting cartons, so there really is no excuse for them not providing a service.

To find out more about this, please click: http://www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/authorities_scheme.asp

The best place to go to check the current list of those UK areas that are collecting and the type of collection, (as not all of these schemes are run through the Local Authority e.g. there are some bring-bank schemes at retailer sites) is here: http://www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/locator.asp

We know that this isn't the perfect answer, but we've decided that causing more environmental damage by switching to more plastic to get round the current difficulties of Tetrapak recycling will never help change the status quo. A lifecycle analysis of tetrapak versus PET plastic (recycled or not) shows Tetrapaks puts a lighter load on the environment overall due to much less processing of source material (ie trees not oil) and much less transport emissions and energy usage. Added to the fact that they are carbon neutrally made, we think that although they're difficult to recycle they are better for the environment overall.

I hope that helps a wee bit and that you understand our thinking on this.

If you have any more queries, feel free to email me on tansy.drake@innocentdrinks.co.uk...

Cheers,
Tansy

[Lisa]

If only everyone made it as easy to recycle as you guys do!

[Alex]

Well done all! Even more reason to drink your smoothies (as if I needed another reason LOL).

xx Alex

[Chloe]

I actually can't believe how good this company can get. Everytime I think you've gone to the top you go and get even better!
Amazing.

[Leila]

Er, it's all very well and good but surely this is still less green than the compostable bottles?