In today's consumer goods market, consumers are faced with a myriad of food and beverage choices. In turn, brands must invest just as much time and effort into primary packaging to stand out from the crowd. Compelling, protective and sustainable materials are all helping to drive numerous primary packaging markets.
January
Coca-Cola: Consumers still want plastic bottles
As the pace of the plastic sustainability debate accelerates, Bea Perez, head of sustainability at Coca-Cola, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Coca-Cola will not stop using plastic bottles due to consumer preference for plastic bottles. Bea Perez said that despite the increasing number of plastic and reusable alternatives, abandoning plastic bottles could increase a company's carbon footprint, jeopardize product safety, and also alienate customers and affect sales.
"Packaging waste is a growing problem and we recognize our responsibility to help solve this problem. All packaging has potential environmental impacts, so it's not that one package is better than another. A Coca-Cola spokesperson reiterated.
February
Coca-Cola Sweden identifies the rPET bottle as "Recycle Me" information
The Swedish Coca-Cola Company has launched a 100% rPET bottle in Sweden with the label "Panta MiG igen", which means "recycle me again", instead of the brand name and logo. The new label design is suitable for brands such as Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and more. The move epitomizes Innova Market Insights' top packaging trend for 2020, "The Language of Environmental Sustainability."
June
The Diageo whisky brand removed 1,000 tons of virgin plastic
Alcoholic beverage giant Diageo North America has launched 100% rPET bottles for its Seagram's 7 Crown American whisky brand, including 1.75 liters, 750 ml, 375 ml and 200 ml. Diageo expects to reduce nearly 1,000 tons of virgin plastic per year – the equivalent of removing 100 million 500 ml plastic bottles from shelves.
"Our main challenge was to ensure that we met the color standards and to minimise any defects on the bottles. To solve this problem, we have increased manual and mechanical quality inspections, resulting in the production of 100% recyclable plastic bottles that meet our quality standards. Ronald Holme, Packaging Director of Diageo North America, explains.
July
Coca-Cola Europe invests in groundbreaking polyester recycling technology
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottlinger, announced funding for CuRe Technology, a recycling startup that gives new life to hard-to-recycle plastic polyester waste. Once the technology is commercialized, CCEP will get most of its production from new plants, accelerating the beverage giant's transition to 100% rPET.
August
Coca-Cola first launched cardboard multipack in Europe
In Spain, Coca-Cola Europe adopted WestRock's CanCollar cardboard ring technology for its multipack cans. The PEFC certified, recyclable, sustainably sourced CanCollar replaces the Hi-Cone plastic ring solution, saving more than 18 tons of plastic per year. Spain became the first European country to launch CanCollar on multi-pack cans, followed by further launches in Europe.
September
PepsiCo introduces invisible digital watermarking technology to facilitate recycling
To recycle more efficiently, PepsiCo experimented with packaging encoded with an invisible digital watermark. This technology is considered the "holy grail" for improving the efficiency of mechanical sorting.
"This technology has the potential to make consumers' lives simpler because they don't have to pack separately or worry about which plastic polymer it is." Instead, through this trial, our product packaging will be encoded with these invisible digital watermarks, containing information about the manufacturer, product, material type, and whether the packaging is food safe. Gareth Callan, project leader at PepsiCo, said.