Lucozade Ribena Suntory Ireland plans to reach 100% sustainable plastic bottles by 2030
Lucozade Ribena Suntory Ireland has announced plans to move to 100 percent sustainable plastic bottles within a decade.
The company, through its parent company Suntory Beverage and Food Europe (SBFE), aim to fully move away from virgin plastic derived from fossil fuels.
By 2030, the company that makes some of 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 percent 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 current waste collection systems across Ireland, the company will initially use 50 percent sustainable plastic packaging 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 the region’s sustainability framework that calls for action to respect natural resources by using less and better packaging and producing less waste.
Harding adds: “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 oil 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.”
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 Ireland is also making its packaging 100 percent 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.
Mark Aherne, General Manager at Lucozade Ribena Suntory Ireland (LRSI), welcomed today’s announcement. He said: “This marks a significant milestone in the evolution of our business in Ireland and for the soft drinks sector globally. By 2030, we aim to use only plant-based materials or plastic that has been previously used to make our bottles. Before this, by 2025, we will ensure that all of our packaging will be reusable or recyclable and we will reduce our use of plastic materials where we are able. We are ready and willing to invest the time, resource and money that will be needed to make this vision a reality.”
Lucozade Ribena Suntory Ireland also announced a bottle redesign across its core drinks, the manufacturer is making changes to the primary packaging of its famous drinks to ensure each one has the optimum chance of being recycled back into plastic bottles to help drive the circularity of plastics.
Reducing plastic in its supply chain will continue to be a key focus. Initiatives will focus on eliminating plastic waste, further light weighting bottles and exploring innovative and alternative sources of materials to replace plastic.
