Sam's Club, a subsidiary of Walmart, has introduced natural mineral water in PET bottles without a label for the first time with its own brand Member's Mark. The move is part of an omnichannel launch in China and aims to reduce annual plastic consumption by over 34 tonnes and CO₂ emissions by around 200 tonnes.
The new bottles are made entirely from recyclable PET and dispense with conventional plastic labels and colour printing. Instead, product information is printed on the outer packaging of the 12-pack cartons. According to the company, this minimalist design improves recyclability, as it enables unmixed recycling, reduces costs and ensures PET is returned to the material cycle more efficiently.
Minimalism for a better circular economy
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, over 430 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year, of which around 42% is packaging. A significant proportion of this is only used for a short time and quickly ends up in the waste stream. Sam's Club is responding to this development with packaging that reduces material consumption, energy use and environmental impact.
The water comes from three protected sources in China - Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang, Wanlv Lake in Guangdong and Danjiangkou Reservoir in Hubei. The aim is to harmonise nature and resource conservation and at the same time enable members to make more sustainable consumption decisions.
Sustainability as part of the Walmart strategy
The introduction of label-free bottles is part of Walmart's overarching sustainability strategy. The group announced in 2020 that it would become a „regenerative“ company that integrates environmental and climate protection more strongly into all business processes. This includes packaging innovations that use less plastic, are easier to recycle and replace unnecessary components, it says.
Sam's Club has already converted several Member's Mark products to more sustainable packaging, for example by using water-based coatings on cardboard packaging instead of BOPP film laminate. With the new bottles, the company wants to show that small design changes can make a noticeable contribution to a more environmentally friendly product landscape.
Source: Walmart
