recycling activist

going around in circles

We’re taking a close look at the lifecycle of the things we make, to be sure we’re making the right choices for people and the planet. And speaking of things that go round and round, we’re also hunting for the best reuse system we can find. We’re committed to making sure all our bottles are recyclable and making them as easy as possible to recycle too. That means educating people, raising awareness, and lobbying for things like better recycling infrastructure and deposit return schemes.

At the moment our juice and smoothie bottles contain 50% rPET, but in the long term we’re focussed on reducing the total amount of packaging we use. We’re off to a good start by making it lighter – between 2020 and 2023 we managed to reduce its weight by 2,500 tonnes.

our most sustainable bottle yet

You won’t be able to tell from looking at them, but our smoothie bottles are the most sustainable ones we’ve created yet. They’re made from 50% recycled plastic, 15% plant plastic (which comes from a by-product of sugar cane) and are recyclable. We’re also on a mission to create our dream bottle that will be made only from renewable or recycled material and that will enable us to stop using virgin plastics created from fossil fuels.

the story so far

2003

We start thinking about the impact our bottles have on the planet and launch our first 25% recycled plastic (rPET) bottle. Big moment.

2006

We hit 50% recycled plastic in all of our bottles, except one which we trial in PLA – a compostable plastic.

2007

We test drive the world's first food grade 100% rPET bottle. It's a great achievement and a great idea in theory, but the quality wasn't quite up to scratch.

2011

We have to pull back to 35% rPET because the quality of the bottles isn't good enough. We get some advice from our friends at WRAP.

2013

We work hard to improve our bottles and get some of them back up to 50% recycled plastic. Happy days.

2018

We make our most sustainable bottle yet from 50% recycled and 15% plant plastic. It’s the greatest bottle we’ve ever seen.

2020

We get all of our juice and smoothie bottles up to at least 50% rPET.

2030

All our packaging will be made from recycled or plant-based (renewable) material, and we’ll have reduced the weight of our packaging by 20% per litre of drink.

recycle and redesign

In our eyes, the world is facing two big challenges: the climate crisis and plastic pollution. Luckily, there’s a way to tackle them both and it’s called ‘the circular economy’ . The circular economy is all about treating plastic with the respect it deserves. That means using less of it, not littering it, then recycling it over and over and over and ov– you get the idea. Here's how we're planning to reduce, recover, recycle and redesign.

reduce

cutting out 2,500 tonnes of plastic

We're making our bottles lighter which has saved 2,500 tonnes of plastic over the last three years. We also use recycled plastic which is lower carbon than virgin material, and we’re working towards all our packaging coming from recycled or renewable materials.

We're always looking for inventive ways to improve our packaging. Over the years, we've come up with some pretty great ideas – although most of them were a bit too pioneering for their own good.

recover

working together to make plastic better

We can only fix the problem of plastic pollution if we team up with lots of different people and organisations. That's why we're founding members of the UK Plastics Pact, one of the founding signatories of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, and doing everything we can to support deposit return schemes (DRS) all across Europe. We're now part of schemes in Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany, and campaigning to be part of others across Europe too.

recycle

an easy guide to recycling our packaging

redesign

the bottles of tomorrow

We're always looking for inventive ways to improve our packaging. Over the years, we've come up with some pretty great ideas – although most of them were a bit too pioneering for their own good.

Right now, plastic is one of the lowest carbon ways we can get our drinks to people. That means it's a good material for tackling the climate crisis and reaching our goal of being carbon neutral by 2025. But just because it's one of the best options at the moment, that doesn't mean it always will be. We have a team of people here at innocent who are working tirelessly to find new and exciting ways to make our packaging more sustainable. Until they find the perfect solution (no pressure or anything), we'll keep pushing to make all our bottles from 100% renewable or recycled material*

As we speak, we're working on an even more sustainable bottle that's made entirely from recycled plastic and plant plastic. It’s recyclable, low carbon, has absolutely no virgin oil-based plastic in it, and no one's ever made one like it before. Because it mixes plant plastic and recycled plastic, it can be recycled more times than a 100% recycled plastic bottle can. So if people keep popping it in the right bin, we'll keep turning it back into bottles. If you want to know more about this plastic wizardry, click here.

*that means we won't use any virgin oil-based plastic

want the ins and outs?

Plastic and recycling is a knotty old subject. Find out what questions we've been asked and how we've answered them.

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