Iranpolymer/Baspar Packaging specialist Alpla has collaborated with Privatbrunnen Tönissteiner, a mineral water company based in Germany, on the development of a reusable PET bottle made entirely of recycled material. The new bottle, of which the development was worked on by the two companies for around a year, is also completely recyclable at the end of life. Currently only available in a one-litre size, the bottles have already been introduced at retail outlets in the country.
The bottles are produced from 100% post-consumer recycled material, provided by Alplarecycling, with the exception of the closure and the label).
‘The packaging of the future is sustainable, light and safe,” said Georg Pescher, managing director of Alpla Germany. Alpla already delivers in this respect, he added, ‘with a circular economy based on the bottle-to-bottle principle, weight optimisation and systematic design for recycling’.
The new bottle has been designed for use with Tönissteiner’s existing twelve-bottle crates in which the bottles are also returned. Up to 160 crates can be transported per lorry load.
“In ALPLA, we have found an innovative partner for the introduction of our first own reusable rPET bottle. The climate-friendly bottle has been perfectly tailored to our sorting, bottling and transport processes,” said Tönissteiner managing director Hermann-Josef Hoppe.
The end of life of the reusable bottle is reached after a specified number of cycles. Laser markings indicate the number of cycles a bottle has been through and complement the quality controls at the refilling stage. Bottles no longer fit for re-use are turned into rPET at the Alplarecycling plants and recycled into new bottles. In this way, an optimum bottle-to-bottle loop is achieved, while, with an eye to the future, Tönissteiner is guaranteed of the availability of a supply of reusable rPET bottles.
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