A global leader in consumer packaged goods, Suntory Group announced its launch for fully sustainable Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. PET plastic bottles area popular choice for packaging soft drinks and beverages due to the numerous benefits, like nontoxicity and lightweight.The company announced that it would take initiatives towards using100% sustainable PET bottles globally by 2030. The group also seeks to eliminate petroleum-based virgin plastic from its global PET supply.
Suntory Group has a fully successful prototype created from plant-based materials. This prototype uses plant-based paraxylene derived from wood chips. It is produced for Europe’s iconic brand, Orangina, along with its best-selling bottled mineral water brand in Japan, Suntory Tennensui. The company’s announcement marks a very important breakthrough after a nearly decade-long partnership with the US-based sustainable technology company, Anellotech. This technology is one of the latest investments from Suntory in the company’s long history of addressing the social and environmental impacts of containers and packaging.
“Suntory has been entrenched in the work to create sustainable packaging solutions since 1997. This plant-based bottle prototype honors our historic dedication while shining light, not only on our path to achieving our 2030 fully sustainable PET bottle goal but also towards our ambition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the entire value chain by 2050,” said Tomomi Fukumoto, Chief Operating Officer of Sustainability Management at Suntory Holdings.
PET is produced using two raw materials: 70% terephthalic acid (PTA) and 30% mono ethylene glycol (MEG). They are also incorporating a new technology, which leverages the use of wood chips to make environment-friendly bottles. For plastic bottles specifically, the company uses a ‘2R+B’ (Reduce/Recycle + Bio) strategy to reduce the weight of containers, like labels and caps. It has actively introduced recycled or plant-based materials in its plastic bottles used globally. So far, the company has done a remarkable job by creating the lightest bottle cap, the thinnest bottle label, and the lightest PET bottle, which was introduced in Japan.
Tsunehiko Yokoi, Executive Officer of Suntory further added that “the significance of this technology is that the PTA is produced from non-food biomass to avoid competition with the food chain, while MEG is also derived from non-food grade feedstock.” The fully recyclable prototype plant-based bottle is estimated to significantly lower carbon emissions compared to petroleum-derived bottles.
