you only get out what you put in
When it comes to recycling we ain't perfect, but we sure are trying hard to do the right thing. We have a stated aim of becoming a truly sustainable business, which means using absolutely no virgin finite materials in any of our packaging. We're not there yet, but we are getting better and things are constantly improving.
So here is our warts and all summary of what materials we use, why, and how best to recycle them. Hope you find it interesting, or at least useful.
Our 250ml smoothies
Our juicy waters
Our Tetra Pak cartons
Our kids' smoothies
Or click here to find a recycling bank.
Our 250ml smoothies
Smoothie bottles
Our bottles are made from PET. This is an inert plastic common to most drink bottles. It is completely recyclable so please recycle them whenever you can.
PET is made from a finite resource, oil, so our aim is to move away from virgin sources of this finite material. Currently our bottles are made from 50% post consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. We were the first company in the UK to do this. We are currently testing a 75% PCR plastic bottle and this should be on the shelves by the end of 2006. This will be a world first, and we will continue our drive to get to a 100% PCR bottle. It will take time, but we will get there.
On another note, we are also close to launching bottles made from biodegradable plastic (PLA or Poly-lactic-acid). This is material made from corn starch so is a fully renewable resource. Plus the bottles will be commercially compostable. Our first PLA bottle will be on the shelves by September 2006.
Our caps
Our caps are made from PE (Polyethylene) which is a basic plastic and is completely recyclable. It is not possible to use PCR plastic in our caps because the caps have to be accurate in size and shape to fit securely, and it's hard to achieve this with recycled material. We are hoping that this will improve over time and our suppliers know we want to be the first to use PCR in our caps.
Our labels
Our smoothie labels are made from paper, from farmed trees. The careful management of these farmed coniferous forests ensures that they are constantly regenerated. We think this is good, but we are also investigating recycled paper labels to see if that is better. More news as it comes in.
The adhesive on our labels
The adhesive on our label needs to be strong to stay on the bottle in the wet and cold of refrigerators. Some councils ask people to remove the label from the bottle before recycling. From what we understand, this actually does not need to be done as the label gets washed off in the recycling process. We are however looking at other types of adhesive to allow people to do this if their council asks for it. We should have an update on this by Christmas.
Our inks
The inks we use are all solvent free. The inks we use in the printing of our booklets and other materials are made from vegetable extracts. This is not yet true of the ink on our bottle labels, but we are working with our label printer to move to vegetable based inks in the near future.
Outers (the boxes our smoothies are sent to the shops in)
These are made from 100% post consumer recycled paper (sustainable and recycled).
Juicy Waters
Bottle
Our juicy water bottles are made from PET and therefore are fully recyclable. They are made by a different bottle company to our smoothie bottles, and they currently have 0% PCR - which is a bit rubbish - but we are hoping to introduce 50% PCR before very long.
Label
The juicy water labels are made from PP (Polypropylene) - this is recyclable and can be made into other plastic materials. We are replacing this with a biodegradable label.
Cap
Same as our smoothie bottles, therefore they're completely recyclable.
So why plastic and not glass?
We do get asked this a fair amount. For many people, glass has the image of being better for the environment. And while these things are hard to prove either way, our understanding is that plastic is better for the following reasons:
- We use an increasing amount of recycled plastic to make out bottles and the energy used to recycle a plastic bottle is 8 times less than to manufacture the same bottle from virgin polymer.
- Up to 40% less fuel is used to transport drinks in plastic bottles compared to glass bottles
- Plastic bottle recycling schemes currently operate in 295 local authority areas so plastic recycling is much easier these days
Our 1 litre cartons
Up until June 2006, lots of the UK's carton recycling happened at a paper mill in Fife called Smith Anderson. Unfortunately this mill has now been closed. What a pain. However, Tetra Pak remain committed to recycling all post-consumer drinks cartons (including ours), and all of their factory waste too. Collection is still happening with over 10% of the country now covered by a collection scheme. They even have a National Recycling Officer, Nick Mann and have given her £300,000 to help increase recycling in the UK. So if you'd like to know more about their plans, and how you can recycle your carton, get in touch directly at www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk.
To find out about recycling Tetra Paks in your area, visit www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk and use the interactive map to see if your council currently has a collection scheme.
If your council doesn't recycle Tetra Pak cartons, we've also got a letter you can send them to encourage them to start.
Our kids' smoothies
Multipack boxes
The multipack boxes they are packed in are made from 88% recycled fibre, with the remaining 12% coming from farmed coniferous forests.
Cartons
Like our big cartons, they are mainly paper and are fully recyclable.
Finding a recycling bank
To find your nearest recycling bank for plastic, paper, glass and lots of other things, go to this website and enter your postcode.
To find out about recycling Tetra Paks in your area, visit www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk and use the interactive map to see if your council currently has a collection scheme. If your council doesn't recycle Tetra Pak cartons, we've also got a letter you can send them to encourage them to start.
Or you can phone and ask your local authority about where to recycle any material - find the contact details of yours here.
We hope this information helps answer some of your questions. As we said, we're far from perfect but we are pushing forward in this area more than any other company we know and we aim to get better and better. And if you've got any ideas about how we can do this, then please let us know at hello@innocentdrinks.co.uk.
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innocent foundation