Sustainability alert: Poland Spring to use 100 percent recycled plastic bottles

Stamford, Connecticut-based Poland Spring has announced that it has started transitioning its packaging to recycled plastic and is on track to become the first major water bottle brand to make water bottles out of 100 percent recycled plastic by 2022. The brand started the transition with its liter bottles in April.

“As a company, we've already put our stake in the ground when it comes to taking the 'single' out of single-use plastic bottles," says Fernando Mercé, president and chief executive officer of Nestlé Waters North America. "As we begin to transform Poland Spring, our most iconic brand, to 100 percent recycled plastic packaging, we will begin to bring this commitment to life for our consumers in a tangible way. Bottles like these, which are made from 100 percent recycled plastic and are 100 percent recyclable, are proof that a fully circular economy is within our reach."

Poland Spring's current packaging, which is predominantly made using PET plastic, is already 100 percent recyclable; however, as recycling rates in the United States still hover around 30 percent, Poland Spring says it recognizes that in order to “fulfill its commitment to use recycled plastic in its packaging, it must also invest in initiatives that help plastic bottles get back in the recycling bin in the first place.”

That's why the brand is collaborating with New York-based Closed Loop Fund and How2Recycle to help increase recycled infrastructure and to remind consumers to recycle empty bottles when they’re done, Poland Spring says in a news release.

"To achieve a circular economy, we, as brand owners, need to inspire people to think and act differently when it comes to plastic," says David Tulauskas, vice president and chief sustainability officer at Nestlé Waters North America. "I cannot think of a more meaningful way to connect with our consumers than to bring to market a more sustainable bottle that they themselves helped to create simply by recycling."

Keurig Dr Pepper announces new 2025 sustainability commitments

One year after the merger of Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP), headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts and Plano, Texas, has made eliminating plastic packaging scrap through its production process a “top priority,” the company says in a news release announcing its new 2025 sustainability goals.

As KDP remains on track to make all K-Cup pods recyclable by the end of 2020, the company has announced new packaging goals to convert to 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 and to use 30 percent postconsumer recycled content in packaging by 2025.

KDP also announced its zero waste goals to send zero waste to landfill across operations by 2025 and obtain 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

"Our new goals build from existing programs, such as our conversion to recyclable K-Cup pods--already complete in Canada and on track to complete in the U.S. in 2020—and expanded partnerships with leading organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the Closed Loop Fund," says Monique Oxender, KDP chief sustainability officer. "We will seek opportunities to rapidly test, learn and apply to meet the urgent need for action and to create positive, lasting change for generations to come."

To achieve the new commitments, the company is says it is expanding partnerships and investments with Falls Church, Virginia-based The Recycling Partnership, the Closed Loop Fund and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)'s new ReSource: Plastic activation hub.

"ReSource: Plastic seeks to help companies translate aspirational commitments into meaningful and measurable action on plastic waste,” says Erin Simon, WWF's director of sustainability. “Keurig Dr Pepper's leadership role within ReSource will strengthen the data-driven and collaborative foundation of the activation hub and will hopefully inspire a sea change across other companies as we work to stop the flow of plastic into nature." 

Tupperware launches No Time to Waste initiative

Tupperware, Orlando, Florida, has announced the launch of No Time to Waste, its first “business-wide strategy” to reduce food scrap and the use of single-use plastics across its production line. The company says it is taking “large steps” to ensure significant scrap reduction at “every point of the lifecycle” of its products by 2025.

Tupperware says it is partnering with organizations, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and World Central Kitchen, and dedicating its global sales force of 3 million to promote the long-term sustainability strategy, focused on “changing consumer behavior to waste less and reuse more.”

In addition, Tupperware has announced it is among four companies selected to use a “new raw material” made from mixed plastic scrap in the production of products. The company adds it is “always looking for new environmentally-friendly sourced materials.”

The company is also enhancing its return process, with a goal to recycle and repurpose 90 percent of returned products by 2025.

Happy Family Organics transitions to recyclable, reusable packaging

New York-based Happy Family Organics has become the first organic baby food brand in the United States to pledge to make its packaging fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, the company says in a news release.

"These commitments are a step in the right direction, and we recognize that global, systemic change is needed to truly make an impact,” says CEO Anne Laraway. “As parents, the notion that any of our packaging ends up in landfills is not ok with us. That's why we're partnering with leading sustainability organizations to help scale our initiatives and we encourage other companies with a mission to serve children to join this global commitment to create a more sustainable future for our kids."

Happy Family Organics is collaborating with Closed Loop Partners, Sustainable Packaging Coalition and others to “implement initiatives that will ensure our packaging is able to be recycled, reused or composted." Its primary packaging initiatives include developing a recyclable spouted pouch, as well as “actively working with suppliers to develop solutions” to improve the packaging supply chain for film plastics.

The company has also pledged to use 25 percent of recycled material in rigid plastic packaging by 2025. The company also plans to focus on consumer education initiatives, including using the How2Recycle label on all primary packaging by 2025.