Dive Brief:
- The 52% drop in the average weight of a half-liter single-serve PET bottle of water has resulted in a savings of 6.2 billion pounds of PET resin since 2000, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.
- In addition to lighter weight (9.25 grams), bottles also incorporate more recycled content. BMC reports that between 2008 and 2014, the use of rPET (recycled PET) in bottled water packaging increased to 21%.
- "While more and more consumers choose bottled water instead of less healthy packaged drinks, our industry continues its efforts to reduce our environmental footprint. In fact, PET plastic bottled water bottles use less plastic than any other packaged beverage," Chris Hogan, of International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) told Recycling Today.
Dive Insight:
The reduction in weight and the savings of PET are significant because according to BMC by the end of the decade, water by volume, will be the largest U.S. beverage category.
To facilitate increased and better recycling of all packaged goods, Virginia-based IBWA formed the Material Recovery Program to connect food and waste businesses, the government and consumers. The program encourages innovation to manage solid waste.
Now that water bottles are fully recyclable, plastic must remain innovative in order to compete with products like Ooho!, the edible water bubble.