Nestlé wants to develop bio-based PET
Nestlé wants to develop a sustainable plastic bottle together with two other partners. The goal is a PET material made from biomass. Only biowaste is to be used in the process.
The two largest suppliers of bottled water, Danone and Nestlé water want to work together with the Californian startup Origin Materials develop a 100% renewable PET bottle that can be used on a commercial scale. The project uses biomass from waste - such as used cardboard or sawdust. This is to ensure that the production of the bottles does not require additional resources and land and takes away from food and feed production.
Use sustainable resources
The aim is to achieve a circular economy for packaging, according to Danone's head of development Frederic Jouin. On the one hand, this is to be done by using sustainable resources, and on the other hand, by secondary recycling of all plastic materials. "We believe it is possible to replace traditional fossil materials with bio-based packaging materials," Jouin said. The new bottles should be as lightweight, transparent, recyclable and compatible with the contents as today's PET.
Today's technology makes it possible to use around 30% of bio-based PET in bottle production. The new development is expected to increase this to 100%. Origin Materials has so far managed to produce pilot products with up to 80% of biobased material; commercial production of bottles with 60+% of biobased PET is scheduled to start in 2018. Initially, 5000 metric tons of the new material will be launched. The alliance's vision is to commercially produce PET bottles with at least 95% of bio-PET by 2020.
Open technology
It is not only products from Danone and Nestlé that will have more sustainable packaging in the future: The technology will be made available to the entire beverage industry, according to the alliance.
