Sustainable smoothies now in RPET bottles

 U.K. juice brand Innocent adds 100-percent-recycled polyethylene terepthalate (RPET) bottles to its line for fruit smoothies under the Innocent name. Founded in 1999, the company produces smoothies and flavored spring water, which it sells in supermarkets and various other outlets across that country. The company converted its line of juice products to RPET in September 2007. The new smoothie bottle is deemed proprietary, says Abi Walters at Innocent, but is completely recyclable and features 20 percent less plastic than its predecessors, Walters says. It also has reduced the carbon footprint by 55 percent, according to the company. Included in the “tasty little drinks” pure-fruit smoothie lineup are mangoes & passion fruit, blackberries & blueberries, strawberries & bananas, yogurt, vanilla bean & honey flavors. The RPET bottle rollout for smoothies began in January. “We've been working on this project for quite a while,” states the company's website. “In 2003, we started using bottles made from 25-percent-recycled plastic and in 2006 improved it to 50-percent-recycled. People told us that it would be impossible to get to 100-percent, but we tried and tried and tried again. We've made the bottle lighter, and it's a big step for a little company. We're very proud.”

Says Innocent's sustainability manager, who goes by the first name of Jess, “We've always been a business that has taken our environmental impact seriously, and this move to 100-percent-recycled content in our bottles is extremely exciting. It means that now Innocent will be saving more than one thousand tons of CO2each year, which is great news for the planet.” The white Innocent label features the chasing-arrows recycling symbol in green and the phrase, “100% recycled bottles.”