Diageo Announces Paper-Based Bottles For Spirits
3 min read
Diageo recently announced plastic-free, paper-based bottles for its popular spirit company, Johnnie Walker. Over the past 15 years, the problem of plastic waste has grown remarkably due to the way in which it has been used. According to the UN Environment, if the present trend continues, by 2050, our oceans will have more plastic than fish.
Few Facts:
- Global production of plastics 359 Mn metric tonnes.
- 40% of global plastic waste is disposed to landfills.
- A whopping 91% of plastic isn’t recycled. Of the 8.3 Bn metric tons of plastic that have been produced, 6.3 Bn metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that only 9% has been recycled.
- Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form.
So the best way to save the environment, birds, marine animals, and fish is to shift the gear from Plastic -to- Paper (P2P). Johnnie Walker, the brand’s parent company Diageo in July announced its 100% plastic-free paper-based spirits bottle. Paper-based Whiskey bottle is set to make a debut in spring 2021 with availability in one size and a variant of the whiskey.
Diageo has partnered with Pilot Lite, a venture management firm, to launch Pulpex limited, a world-leading sustainable packaging technology company. This will allow Diageo’s commitment to achieving a goal 12 of UN sustainable development goals: “Responsible Consumption and Production”.
The bottle is sustainably sourced from wood pulp to meet food-safe standards and is fully recyclable in standard waste streams. As said by Diageo, bottles will be made by pressurizing pulp in molds which will then be cured in microwave ovens. The bottles will be sprayed internally with coatings that are designed not to interact with the drinks they will contain. He also said Many cartons made out of paper have a plastic coating inside to stop the drinks leaking out, with us, its drinks bottles will not have that plastic coating. Pulpex has set up “partner consortium” with FMCG giants like Pepsico and Uniliver, who are also in plans to release their own products in paper bottle technology next year. Richard Slater, Chief R&D Officer, Unilever, said: “We believe in tackling plastic waste through innovation and collaboration. We are going to halve our use of virgin plastic at Unilever, reducing our use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes in the next five years.
UK firm Frugalpac produces paper wine bottles that are made from recycled paper with a “Food Grade Liner”. Carlsberg is in the process of developing a paper beer bottle. Heineken UK said it would be getting rid of plastic from its multi-packs by 2021.
The UK has been at the forefront in terms of using recycled products by using:
- 12.5 million tonnes of paper each year.
- 67% of the recycled paper and cardboard.
- In 2017, 2.26 metric tonnes of packaging waste from plastic were generated of which 46.2% of this either recovered or recycled.
- Benefits of recycling paper:
- Helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change.
- It takes 70% less energy and water to recycle with paper than to create new paper from trees.
- According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees and more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
Will our mother earth be able to sustain itself, if we do not adapt to the sustainability methods now?
