In celebration of Earth Day 2020 we want to share information on the water bottles and production practices we use. We hope this will illustrate how serious we take the issue of caring for our planet and recycling. With our recycled plastic bottles and energy saving production procedures, we’re doing our best to provide responsible and sustainable custom bottled water. Here’s what you should know about the bottles we ship to our customers.
The Material in our Plastic Bottles
Our water bottles are made on site at our production plant from 100% recycled #1 PET plastic pellets. These pellets come from recycled plastic bottles that have been ground into flakes, then cleaned to get rid of any contaminants. The plastic flakes are converted into pellets which are used to make pre-forms. Next, the pre-forms are melted down and injected into blow molds in the shape of the bottles. A light blue tint is added to the rPET in its raw form because it initially has a gray look, which isn’t too appealing.
By using recycled plastic, it reduces landfill waste and reduces the amount of energy compared to the production of new virgin resin from oil. Our plant has developed a closed loop system that uses less energy whereby each bottle can be recycled or remade repeatedly. This system uses 45% less energy and emits 65% less CO2 than making new plastic bottles.
Closed Loop Recycling
We strive for closed loop recycling, or what is known as bottle to bottle recycling. This type of recycling keeps the plastic pellets from being shipped abroad to countries like China where the pellets are made into any number of products that are likely to end up in a landfill or worse yet, the ocean. In closed loop recycling the bottles are recycled into bottles and this closes the loop.
Reduced Energy for Production
There were 1,890,000 tons of plastic beverage containers American recycled in the US in 2017. When plastic bottles turn back into plastic bottles less new material is being sourced. When that happens less resources are used lowering greenhouse gases, production of toxic material, and all of the energy resources that are used to get virgin material out of the ground in the first place.
… if a food and drink packaging manufacturer ditches virgin plastic in favor of “solid-stated” RPET pellet, it would cut GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by about half…” Quantifying Benefits of Recycled Plastic
Doing Our Part to Reduce Plastic Waste
We encourage our customers to recycle the bottles they purchase from us. A recycle symbol is included on every label. We could sell virgin plastic bottles like many companies but we choose to use recycled plastic bottles. We’re exploring the option to provide biodegradable plastic bottles and hope to add that to our line up in the future.
Plastic Waste is a Global Issue
The outcry in the U.S. against plastic water bottles leaves out the fact that 60% of the plastic in the ocean comes from Asian countries, and the percentage from countries in Africa is also very high. It’s not the U.S. dumping large amounts of water bottles into the environment. Take a look at this map and see that the U.S. is one of the most diligent countries in the world when it comes to handling plastic waste.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Plastic Bottles
There’s everything right about wanting to reduce waste and cut down on the number of plastic bottles in the environment, but let’s use a reasonable approach and forgo singling out bottled water above all other plastic bottles. Unlike water, which is necessary to life, soft drinks, energy drinks, and juice drinks are left out of the single-use plastic bottle debate. The demonization of plastic water bottles over other plastic bottles needs to be looked at with a level head. Unless you ban all plastic single serve bottles let’s not point fingers at water bottles only.
If you have questions about our products please feel free to leave a comment below or email us info at bottleyourbrand dot com.
