Lucozade Ribena Suntory announces 100% sustainable plastic bottles goal

Lucozade Ribena Suntory, through its parent company Suntory Beverage and Food Europe (SBFE), has announced a plan to move to 100% sustainable plastic bottles within a decade, fully moving away from virgin plastic derived from fossil fuels.

By 2030, the company that makes some of UK and Ireland’s best-loved drinks – including Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Ribena – will aim to use plastic that has been previously used or bio-sourced (plant-based) to reach its 100% sustainable plastic packaging target.

Embracing existing mechanical recycling processes – and investment in new, innovative technologies like enzymatic recycling and Japanese Flake to Preform processing – will be crucial for helping the company to make the change.

By accelerating its existing efforts, and through supporting deposit return schemes across the UK, the company will initially use 50% sustainable plastic packaging (rpet) across primary packaging by 2025.

 

Peter Harding, CEO, Suntory Beverage and Food Europe, said, “It is our founding promise to coexist with people and nature. Plastic waste is not acceptable – and we are investing to find new and innovative solutions to address this global issue.”

The move is in line with the Suntory vision of Growing for Good and is a key component of a sustainability framework that calls for action to respect natural resources by using less and better packaging and producing less waste.

Harding added: “Our priorities are limiting our impact on natural resources, eliminating waste, and reducing our carbon footprint. The changes and innovations we are making are massive – they are set to remove thousands of tonnes of new plastic made from fossil fuel from our manufacturing operations every year. This will also contribute to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions since sustainable plastic has a lower carbon footprint than making new plastic.”

Parent company, SBFE has already started to make the change with the announcement of a consortium with Carbios, a company pioneering new, bio-industrial solutions to reinvent the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers.

For its packaging to be fully sustainable Lucozade Ribena Suntory is also making its packaging 100% recyclable to enable bottle-to-bottle recycling. It will increase consumer communications and marketing campaigns to encourage recycling and responsible disposal and will ensure all packaging is clearly marked to show how it should be recycled.

 

Carol Robert, COO, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, added: “I am so pleased to reveal such an ambitious goal of 100% sustainable plastic. Lucozade Ribena Suntory has had a fantastic year in terms of the sustainability partnerships and initiatives it has been able to announce in 2019, so this feels like a logical, if ambitious, next step.”

The firm has already taken positive steps to ensure its new drinks, like Lucozade Sport Fitwater and Ribena Frusion, are designed with bottle-to-bottle recycling in mind. The latest launches from the Gloucestershire-based manufacturer have sufficiently transparent labels, meaning they can be fully recycled within the current UK recycling infrastructure. Ribena Frusion is also manufactured in 100% recycled plastic (rPET) 420ml bottles, ensuring no new plastic needs to be produced.

Robert concluded: “As one of the UK’s leading soft drinks manufacturers, we have the responsibility and opportunity to ensure future generations inherit and enjoy a healthy planet. For us, this means creating great-tasting drinks that people can feel good about, so we’re working every day to deliver commitments across our entire value chain to make this a reality.”