Big beverage brand pours into recycled PET bottles

Oji functional juice drinks are housed in sustainable rPET containers produced in partnership by APPE.
Oji functional juice drinks are housed in sustainable rPET containers produced in partnership by APPE.

Related tags Recycling

Packaging manufacturer APPE has helped beverage brand Oji pour its recent functional fruit drink product launch into a sustainable, recycled-content PET bottle.

The packaging firm aided Oji and Hero in increasing the sustainability profile of a recent beverage line introduction by creating a 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottle for the product.

Demonstrating sustainability

APPE representative Silvie Willemsen said the Oji PET project demonstrates the firm’s sustainable packaging capabilities.

The new bottle is evidence that our rPET material and extensive recycling facilities can enable a brand to meet its closed-loop recycling requirements​,” she said.

Willemsen added that the rPET material fit with the beverage brand owner’s operational sustainability goals, as well as corporate environmental and social commitments. Additionally, the brand is working with packaging recycling gurus at TerraCycle, a firm that focuses on eliminating incineration and waste in packaging of food and other products.

Also boosting the product's sustainability: the bottle reportedly provides an ambient shelf life of six months for the preservative-free drinks, avoiding the energy consumption involved in keeping them chilled.

Created through teamwork

The package’s creation was the result of close collaboration among teams from three different APPE sites. The firm’s in-house design team created the preform for the 100ml bottle and also provided a high degree of creative input into the package’s look.

Hero, a brand-focused consumer-foods group, worked in conjunction with Oji and APPE for the filling and shelf life aspect of the operation.

The rPET material is furnished by APPE’s recycling plant in Beaune, France. The bottle itself is manufactured at APPE Belgium, with bottles supplied to Hero’s filling operation in The Netherlands.

The Oji beverage family includes four varieties that include different fruits and health benefits (such as antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals), all with caffeine from green coffee beans.  

Related topics Smart Packaging

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2 comments

Oji - close the loop

Posted by Sandra Samuelson,

Hi Devi Peri,
My name is Sandra and I work for Oji. Thank you for a good and relevant question!
We have battled with the problems you mention and to find a solution we have partnered with TerraCycle who helps us collect our bottles and send them back to APPEs production facility in Beaune to create new bottles
If you are interested to know more about Oji, please visit: www.ojidrinks.com/en/
Kind regards, Sandra

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But does this close the loop?

Posted by Devi Peri,

I applaud Oji's and APPE's efforts! And I wonder what happens to the Oji drink bottle made of rPET when it is finished? Can we send it back to the manufacturer to recycle again? Or will it end up being sent to China to be made into textiles, as is the fate of most PET bottles that are redeemed for deposit or collected curbside.

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