GreenBottle

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GreenBottle Ltd (now dissolved and in no way related to Greenbottle Limited incorporated in March 2016) was the manufacturer of sustainable, paper-based liquids packaging. [1] In 2017, Ecologic Brands Inc.,based in Manteca California, purchased the assets of the former GreenBottle.

Contents

GreenBottle was developed in 2005 by inventor Martin Myerscough following a chance encounter with a waste tip manager. Myerscough was told that the biggest problem at waste tips is the abundance of plastic milk bottles. [2] With less than 8 years of landfill in the UK remaining, [3] Myerscough was inspired by his son's (Jamie Myerscough's) papier-mâché balloon to create a moulded paper bottle with a thin plastic lining. [4]

GreenBottle was initially produced as a milk bottle exclusive to national British retailer Asda.

Following the successful launch of the GreenBottle milk container, the company unveiled its designs for a paper wine bottle. [5] The launch was met with international enthusiasm, gaining press coverage, and eventually sales, from around the world.

GreenBottle is a commercially viable, environmentally green alternative to plastic, glass and laminated cartons.

The process

The bottles are made by moulding the pulp of wood fibre which is then pressed into shape. The plastic liner is automatically vacuum formed and inserted into one half shell, another half shell is placed on top and the two are then sealed together. The bottles are designed to easily integrate with existing filling lines. The bottles can be printed, labelled and/or embossed. [6]

Environmental benefits

Packaging is the largest contributor to a product's carbon footprint - accounting for between 30-70% of the total emissions. [7]

Compared to glass

GreenBottle has an estimated 10% of the carbon footprint of glass and weighs just one sixth of an average wine glass bottle, making it much more fuel efficient to transport both in bulk and for consumers. [8] [9] Glass is often regarded as a green form of packaging but its production process is highly energy intensive and whilst 62% of glass is recycled in the UK, only 50% of this is remelted. The balance is either destined for land fill, road aggregate or fibreglass insulation manufacture. [10]

In the UK more than 1.2 billion wine bottles are used every year.[ citation needed ] Although recyclable, glass containers are constituted of varying degrees of recycled glass. Green glass is made of 76% recycled glass content, clear glass just 29%. [11]

Compared to plastic bottles

Plastic bottles require up to 4.5 times the amount carbon to produce compared to a milk GreenBottle. [12] Most plastic, even if it has been recycled several times, is eventually bound for landfill where it persists indefinitely. In 2010, there were warnings that the UK had just eight years of landfill remaining [13] and the EU Landfill Directive legally binds the UK to reduce its municipal waste, by 2020, to 35% of 1995 dumping levels. [14] Much of the 15 million plastic bottles consumed daily in the UK still ends up in landfill where it will persist for more than 500 years. [15] Only 35% of PET bottles are recycled. [16]

In contrast, the paper bottle can be composted in as little as 12 weeks and recycled with paper recycling. The GreenBottle bottle uses less than one third of the amount of plastic in a standard UK milk bottle.

Compared to laminated cartons

The laminated carton was among the most innovative developments in packaging over the last 60 years. Laminated cartons are made from layers of paper board fused with a plastic lining containing a small amount of aluminium. The packaging can keep liquids fresh over long distances and periods of time, locked within a safe seal. The composition of laminated cartons makes it difficult to separate the various components from the paper. Recycling cartons is therefore more complicated than simply recycling paper and/or pieces of plastic. [17] There are no recycling facilities available for laminated cartons in the UK at the moment so post-consumer cartons that are collected by local councils are sent to land fill in the UK or shipped to mainland Europe for incineration or specialist recycling. [18] The global recycling rate of laminated cartons is approximately 20% of the 175 billion cartons sold in 2011. [19]

Awards

GreenBottle was the winner of the Best Small Companies category at the 2012 Rethink Awards, hosted by Planet Workshops. [20] A few weeks later, it was also shortlisted for Most Sustainable Small Organisation by the International Green Awards. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling</span> Converting waste materials into new products

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties it had in its original state. It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. It can also prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy use, air pollution and water pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wine bottle</span> Bottle used for holding wine

A wine bottle is a bottle, generally a glass bottle, that is used for holding wine. Some wines are fermented in the bottle while others are bottled only after fermentation. Recently the bottle has become a standard unit of volume to describe sales in the wine industry, measuring 750 millilitres. Wine bottles are produced, however, in a variety of volumes and shapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carton</span> Type of domestic container

A carton is a box or container usually made of liquid packaging board, paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zero waste</span> Philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused

Zero waste, or waste minimization, is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are repurposed and/or reused. The goal of the movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, oceans, or any other part of the environment. Currently 9% of global plastic is recycled. In a zero waste system, all materials are reused until the optimum level of consumption is reached.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Container-deposit legislation</span> Return of beverage containers for refund

Container-deposit legislation is any law that requires the collection of a monetary deposit on beverage containers at the point of sale and/or the payment of refund value to the consumers. When the container is returned to an authorized redemption center, or retailer in some jurisdictions, the deposit is partly or fully refunded to the redeemer. It is a deposit-refund system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Municipal solid waste</span> Type of waste consisting of everyday items discarded by the public

Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in a garbage disposal; the two are sometimes collected separately. In the European Union, the semantic definition is 'mixed municipal waste,' given waste code 20 03 01 in the European Waste Catalog. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology 'municipal.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glass milk bottle</span>

Glass milk bottles are glass bottles used for milk. They are reusable and returnable – used mainly for doorstep delivery of fresh milk by milkmen. Once customers have finished the milk, empty bottles are expected to be rinsed and left on the doorstep for collection, or rinsed bottles may be returned to a participating retail store. Bottle sizes vary depending on region, but common sizes include pint, quart or litre.

Coated paper is paper that has been coated by a mixture of materials or a polymer to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink absorbency. Various materials, including kaolinite, calcium carbonate, bentonite, and talc, can be used to coat paper for high-quality printing used in the packaging industry and in magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerbside collection</span> Household waste collection service

Kerbside collection or curbside collection is a service provided to households, typically in urban and suburban areas, of collecting and disposing of household waste and recyclables. It is usually accomplished by personnel using specially built vehicles to pick up household waste in containers that are acceptable to, or prescribed by, the municipality and are placed on the kerb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food packaging</span> Enclosure and protection of nutritional substances for distribution and sale

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling in the Republic of Ireland</span>

Rates of household recycling in Ireland have increased dramatically since the late 1990s. The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the agency with overall responsibility for environmental protection in Ireland and monitors rates of recycling in Ireland along with other measures of environmental conditions in Ireland. The EPA, along with Repak, the principal organisation for packaging recycling in Ireland, report on recycling rates each year. In 2012 Ireland’s municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling rate was 34%, while the rate of packaging recycling reached 79%. The amount of municipal waste generated per person per year in Ireland has fallen significantly in recent years. This figure remains above the European Union annual municipal waste average of 503 kg per person, however. Each local council in Ireland has considerable control over recycling, so recycling practices vary to some extent across the country. Most waste that is not recycled is disposed of in landfill sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetra Pak</span> Swedish-Swiss multinational food packaging and processing company

Tetra Pak is a Swedish multinational food packaging and processing company headquartered in Switzerland. The company offers packaging, filling machines and processing for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cream and prepared food, including distribution tools like accumulators, cap applicators, conveyors, crate packers, film wrappers, line controllers and straw applicators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling in the United Kingdom</span>

In 2015, 43.5% of the United Kingdom's municipal waste was recycled, composted or broken down by anaerobic digestion. The majority of recycling undertaken in the United Kingdom is done by statutory authorities, although commercial and industrial waste is chiefly processed by private companies. Local Authorities are responsible for the collection of municipal waste and operate contracts which are usually kerbside collection schemes. The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 required local authorities in England to provide every household with a separate collection of at least two types of recyclable materials by 2010. Recycling policy is devolved to the administrations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales who set their own targets, but all statistics are reported to Eurostat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milk bag</span> Plastic bags that contain milk

A milk bag is a plastic bag that contains milk. Usually one of the corners is cut off to allow for pouring, and the bag is stored in a pitcher or jug.

The Ontario Deposit Return Program (ODRP), also simply known as Bag it Back, is a regulation of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its purpose is to divert recyclable materials from landfill or low-quality recycling uses by charging a fee for each alcoholic beverage container sold in the province, and processing the material for re-use or other recycling activities once the containers are returned for a refund of the deposit fee. Customers forfeit the deposit fee if the container is not returned.

Ecologic Brands Inc. is a United States company that specializes in creating eco-friendly packaging for consumer products. The products are made from sustainable materials and are designed to be recyclable or compostable. The company also provides branding and marketing services to help companies promote their environmentally conscious products.

Bottles are able to be recycled and this is generally a positive option. Bottles are collected via kerbside collection or returned using a bottle deposit system. Currently just over half of plastic bottles are recycled globally. About 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and only about 50% are recycled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recycling in Australia</span> Method of waste management in Australia

Recycling in Australia is a widespread, and comprehensive part of waste management in Australia, with 60% of all waste collected being recycled. Recycling is collected from households, commercial businesses, industries and construction. Despite its prominence, household recycling makes up only a small part (13%) of Australia's total recycling. It generally occurs through kerbside recycling collections such as the commingled recycling bin and food/garden organics recycling bin, drop-off and take-back programs, and various other schemes. Collection and management of household recycling typically falls to local councils, with private contractors collecting commercial, industrial and construction recycling. In addition to local council regulations, legislation and overarching policies are implemented and managed by the state and federal governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Packaging waste</span> Post-use container and packing refuse

Packaging waste, the part of the waste that consists of packaging and packaging material, is a major part of the total global waste, and the major part of the packaging waste consists of single-use plastic food packaging, a hallmark of throwaway culture. Notable examples for which the need for regulation was recognized early, are "containers of liquids for human consumption", i.e. plastic bottles and the like. In Europe, the Germans top the list of packaging waste producers with more than 220 kilos of packaging per capita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow sack</span> Standard waste container in Germany and Austria

In Germany and Austria, the term yellow bag refers to a thin, yellowish transparent plastic bag, in which, in the context of local waste disposal, any waste made of plastic, metal or composite materials can be handed in. Depending on the agreement with the cities and municipalities, it may also be possible to use a 'yellow bin'. Yellow bags or yellow bins are part of the Dual System in the German waste management industry.

References

  1. ↑ Orr, Gillian (24 February 2012). "Is it time to pass on glass when it comes to serving wine?". The Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Lucas, Louise (9 June 2012). "Paper bottles to soak up green drinkers". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Grice, Andrew (8 July 2010). "UK warned it will run out of landfill sites in eight years". The Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. ↑ Williams, Olivia (14 November 2011). "GreenBottle, World's First Paper Wine Bottle, To Launch In Britain". Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Williams, Olivia (14 November 2011). "GreenBottle, World's First Paper Wine Bottle, To Launch In Britain". Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Eco-Innovation - European Commission". green-business.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  7. ↑ "Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Summary 2011/12". Coca Cola. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Low, Valentine (14 November 2011). "Now you can relax after ripping open a bottle of wine". The Times. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Doward, Jamie (13 November 2012). "First came the plastic cork, now get ready for the paper wine bottle". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "Recycling glass in the hospitality sector". WRAP. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "Glass Toolkit". WRAP. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  12. ↑ Ehrlich, Richard (23 September 2008). "The Green Kitchen". The Times. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Grice, Andrew (8 July 2010). "UK warned it will run out of landfill sites in eight years". The Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme". EU Landfill Directive. UK Department of Environment, Farming & Rural Affairs. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  15. ↑ Doward, Jamie (30 January 2011). "Papier-mache milk bottle arrives in UK supermarkets". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  16. ↑ "PET Plastic bottles – facts not myths". British Plastics Federation. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Nichols, Will (5 July 2012). "Paper juice bottle promises to squeeze out unsustainable packaging". Business Green. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  18. ↑ "Carton recycling on the up with new UK paper mill". Tetra Pak. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  19. ↑ "Recycling: Slim Waste". Tetra Pak. Archived from the original on 2012-11-17. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  20. ↑ "GreenBottle's international environmental awards success". Packaging Europe. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  21. ↑ Sveccha. "Category Shortlists Announced". International Green Awards. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
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