Packs and Closures

Drinks brand Innocent has claimed a world first by putting four of its fruit Smoothies in 100% recycled PET bottles.

The firm started production using the fully recycled plastic packaging on 10 September, and supplies appeared on-shelf by the end of last week.

The four flavours – strawberry and banana; pomegranate, blueberry and acai; pineapple, banana and coconut; and guava, gogi and mango – are now in the new 250ml bottles, which are 20% lighter and 100% food safe.

The rest of the Smoothie range is expected to switch to the material by January 2008.

Innocent has beaten Ribena in making 100% recycled PET bottles available. Ribena owner GlaxoSmithKline said last week that it aimed to switch the brand's ready-to-drink bottles to 100% recycled PET in October.

Innocent sustainability manager Jessica Sansom refused to name the supplier of the recycled plastic, which is based in the UK but is initially sourcing the material from European producers.

Sansom said the firm had found it difficult to source high-quality fully recycled PET from the UK because until recently there had not been much demand for the material.

"But demand is now building slowly and we'll keep buying it," she said. "We're using the same equipment and same production process as before."

The move to the new material will reduce Innocent's carbon footprint by 55%, and by next year will save more than 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Sansom said the next step would be to source 100% recycled plastic caps for the bottles.

The paper used for the labels already has a recycled content of 25%, with the remaining 75% sourced from FSC-certified forests, and the firm is working on improving this. In addition, labels are printed using vegetable-based inks.

"The last bit will be the glue," added Sansom. "We won't stop until we're there."