Danone Waters is introducing 100% recycled plastic bottles for its Evian range in the UK and Ireland as part of its pledge to become carbon neutral across its Evian and Volvic brands in 2020.
The announcement marks the next step in Danone Waters UK & Ireland’s sustainability journey.
Since the 1990’s, Danone Waters has light-weighted its plastic bottles across Evian and Volvic by more than 20%, transitioned to 100% renewable energy in the Evian bottling site and transitioned from trucks to trains to transport products.
From April 2020, Evian UK & Ireland will use 100% recycled PET for its single 75cl, 1.5l and 50cl bottles excluding caps and labels, bringing the use of recycled plastic content to 70% across the range.
The company commits to using no virgin plastic across both its Evian and Volvic brands by 2025.
In December last year, Danone announced that four of its brands in its water division had committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions in the coming years, in a move to accelerate its journey towards its 2050 target.
The announcement builds on the actions that Danone Waters brands are collectively taking with its programme WeActForWaters, a set of objectives and new investments which focus on responsible packaging, climate neutrality, watershed preservation and access to safe drinking water.
WeActForWater falls within Danone’s recently announced €2 billion investment acceleration plan, investing between 2020-2022 to further transform its agriculture, energy and operations, packaging and digital capabilities.
James Pearson, managing director for Danone Waters UK&I, said: “The challenges of plastic pollution and climate change that we face are more pressing than ever, therefore we need to accelerate the actions to reduce our footprint.
“Today we are announcing two specific actions in our journey: firstly, from April, Evian will use 100% recycled plastic in its best-selling formats; secondly, both Evian and Volvic brands are being assessed by the Carbon Trust to become carbon neutral in 2020. We are also taking actions that I hope will enable us to be B Corp certified by the end of the year.”
Helen Bird, strategic engagement manager at WRAP, said “We are pleased to see Danone, a member of The UK Plastics Pact, reducing their use of virgin plastic. Using recycled content in the manufacture of new products and packaging is the whole point of recycling, and announcements like this help give confidence to the recycling industry.”
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