Sustainable packaging: First 100% recycled water bottle hits shelves

Canada-based Naya Spring Water, which claims to be the first bottled spring water company in the world to use 100 percent recycled plastic in its bottles, announced that Whole Foods Market will carry two sizes of the popular spring water brand in its U.S. stores.

"As the first spring water company to introduce a 100 percent recycled plastic bottle, Whole Foods Market is an ideal partner for us," said Daniel Cotte, president of Naya Waters, Inc. "Whole Foods Market shares our commitment to energy conservation, reducing packaging wherever possible and being more sustainable from cradle to cradle."

Whole Foods will primarily carry Naya Spring water in its popular 1.5L and 1L bottle sizes. After seven years of R&D, Naya's 100 percent rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are engineered to utilize plastic waste, which otherwise could end up in landfills. The rPET plastic used in Naya's new bottle is FDA approved and meets the same rigorous safety standards as virgin plastic bottles.

"We're pleased to offer our shoppers a great quality spring water in the most environmentally friendly plastic bottle available," said Michael Besancon, senior global vice president at Whole Foods Market. "Naya's innovation and efforts to reduce and reuse plastic are aligned with our values of caring about communities and the environment."

Earlier this month at the Natural Products Expo, Naya received a Responsible Packaging Award ("Green Packy Award") for its 100% rPET bottle. The Responsible Packaging Awards honor companies' vision and achievements in raising the bar for truly sustainable packaging, including innovations for eliminating dependence on non-renewable materials such as petroleum, a primary component used in the production of virgin plastic bottles. The award is sponsored by Whole Foods Market, United Natural Foods, Inc. and the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association.

With Naya's 100 percent rPET bottle, the company hopes to move the beverage industry to be more sustainable as a whole. The company estimates that if just 10 percent of the US beverage industry adopted 100 percent rPET for its plastic bottles, the reduced use of virgin plastic would save 715,000 barrels of oil per year.

SOURCE: Naya Natural Spring Water

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