On 1 January 2022, the statutory juice deposit for disposable plastic bottles will also be extended to juices and nectars. Eckes-Granini Deutschland GmbH has already been successively converting the PET containers of its brands to the deposit system since July.
The FruchtTiger brand kicked things off on 19 July, followed by Granini in August and Hohes C from September. With deposit information on the bottle labels as well as display and shelf wobblers that link to further online information via QR code Eckes-Granini its consumers about the sustainable innovation and the gradual integration of PET containers into the familiar deposit system. A transitional period applies from 3 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, which allows pledged and non-pledged products to be labelled side by side. The familiar DPG symbol on the label helps to maintain an overview.
„Extending the mandatory deposit to juice and nectar is a long overdue step towards closed cycles and more sustainable packaging solutions. As a company, we are actively committed to sustainability and have also campaigned in favour of the juice deposit.“ Kay Fischer, Managing Director of Eckes-Granini Deutschland GmbH.
Juice deposit generates an additional 45,000 tonnes of PET
Around 45,000 tonnes of PET are currently lost to the deposit system. This corresponds to just under ten per cent of all PET bottles in circulation. These previously non-deposit PET bottles are currently disposed of via the dual system and are largely only recycled down due to contamination and mixing. Bottled PET bottles, on the other hand, are collected cleanly via the return machine and can therefore be fed back into the recycling cycle for food packaging, among other things. This means that more recycled PET (r-PET) is available for the closed recycling loop.
Eckes-Granini to switch to 100 per cent r-PET for all brands by the end of 2022
In response to an EU requirement, the new Packaging Act stipulates that certain disposable plastic drinks bottles made of PET must be made of at least 25 per cent recycled material from 2025 (from 2030: 30 %). Eckes-Granini becomes will only use PET bottles made from 100 per cent r-PET for all of its German brands by the end of 2022 - and thus save around 9,000 tonnes of new plastic per year that is not newly produced from crude oil and fed into the recycling cycle. Eckes-Granini is already producing the bottles of its anchor brand Hohes C from 100 per cent r-PET this year. The declared aim is to achieve a closed cycle „from bottle to bottle“. The switch to 100 per cent r-PET is an important part of Eckes-Granini Germany's company-wide sustainability agenda. This year alone, the Nieder-Olm-based company is investing more than 6 million euros.
Source: Eckes-Granini
