FDBusiness.com

Building on Britvic’s existing work to protect the environment, the company has joined forces with other global businesses to promote a ground-breaking recycling technology that will help bring about a circular economy for plastics. The new technology is called BP Infinia and means opaque and difficult to recycle PET plastic waste can be made into new plastic again and again, with no loss in quality. The new cross-industry consortium will work together to make BP Infinia mainstream.

BP Infinia has the potential to revolutionise the plastic packaging industry and prevent millions of tonnes of plastic from entering landfill. BP is already investing $25 million in the technology and, as part of the consortium pushing for the technology’s adoption, Britvic will contribute to the creation of a practical business model to ensure its successful adoption.

Trystan Farnworth, Director of Sustainability at Britvic, says: “To truly reinvent Britvic’s packaging, we must innovate with new low-impact packaging. This consortium is a cornerstone to delivering that pledge. A challenge in creating a truly circular economy for PET is the fact that, as it stands, it is not infinitely recyclable. We have to solve this to become truly circular – it is not an option. That’s why we are excited to announce our active role in the consortium, collaborating to achieve a circularity breakthrough for the benefit of all our stakeholders.”

Britvic will be teaming up with companies operating across the polyester packaging value chain to address the problem of plastic waste head on and is delighted to be joining forces with packaging and recycling specialist ALPLA; consumer goods producers Danone and Unilever; waste management and recycling specialist REMONDIS; and energy and petrochemicals producer BP.

As a leading soft drinks supplier, Britvic wants to help find solutions to ensure that no plastic packaging becomes waste and has already taken a number of steps to reduce the impact of its own packaging.

Since 2017, it has removed more than 1,500 tonnes of plastic from its supply chain; 100% of its plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans are recyclable; and the company is a founding signatory of The UK Plastics Pact.

Britvic recently entered into a long-term agreement with Esterform, one of the UK’s leading producers of recycled PET (rPET), investing £5 million into the construction of new recycled plastic facilities in the UK. This deal with Esterform secures Britvic’s access to locally sourced rPET long into the future.

Britvic is committed to working collaboratively to reduce its impact and, earlier this year, signed up to science-based targets, joining more than 310 companies worldwide that are committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a large scale. Britvic now has independently verified company-wide emissions targets in line with climate science to help prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C and is the first UK soft drinks company to do so.

Britvic’s active involvement in the Infinia consortium is just part of its efforts to ensure that it is a responsible and sustainable business and it looks forward to sharing its knowledge and expertise to help further protect the environment that it relies on as a business.