Drinking strong alcohol and cleaning up the oceans: according to the creative agency „Fitzroy“, this is possible by using their rum in sustainable recycled bottles. The highlight is the eye-catching cap on the bottles. It was made from recycled Coca-Cola labels that had been washed up on Dutch beaches. This even won the „German Design Award“ in Germany.
When a schnapps idea becomes the idea of a sustainable schnapps, it could be an idea from the Dutch communications agency „Fitzroy“. Once a year - and this has been the case for ten years now - the think tank from Amsterdam with their customers and the team for a big party called the „Bash“. It has already become a tradition that a new Fitzroy initiative is devised during this event.
The result of the „Bash 2017“ is a classically shaped, transparent „bottle“ with clear lines and amber-coloured contents. It is dominated by a large cap. It sits enthroned as a reddish-white marbled cube on the neck of the bottle. The bottle and cap are quite literally something to behold. They are „Fitzroy Navy Rum“, a strong sugar cane schnapps. The bottle consists of recycled glass from the Dutch North Sea coast. For the cube: „I was meant to be a Coke bottle.“ But because a delivery of red and white Coca-Cola banderoles from the cargo ship „Red Cedar“ went overboard in the North Sea in January 2017, the labels and countless plastic trays ended up as rubbish on the beaches of the North Holland islands of Texel, Vlieland and Terschelling, reported TV broadcaster „NOS“. Environmental activists collected it all. Then Fitzroy came into play.
Cooperation with experienced beachcombers
There, the Beach pollution heard. At the party, it was realised that there was no sustainable rum brand on the market. That was about to change. Fitzroy formed a start-up with the co-operation partner „Jut een Product“ run by Eric Klarenbeek, Maartje Dros and Jesse van Overmeeren. The three operators of „Jut een Product“ are experienced beachcombers. They drive a special trolley along the beaches of North Holland and pick up washed-up plastic, which they shred and process into 3D printing filament, which they then use to print a 3D printer manufacture new products.
With this wealth of experience, „Jut een Product“ now collected and cleaned the sugar sherbet banderoles. The Bottle cap was not 3D-printed, however. With other collected Plastic waste the Coca-Cola labels were melted down and then pressed into the cubic mould by hand in a small Dutch craft business. This resulted in numerous unique pieces, all marbled in different colours and patterns and not reproducible.
For the liquid content of the new product, Fitzroy relied on the rum import and trading company „E&A Scheer“ from Amsterdam. This company is also committed to sustainable corporate goals and has laid them down in its own code of ethics.
Communication design honoured with „German Design Award
For the creative minds at Fitzroy, the maritime rum is, according to their own statements, the successful combination of the Sustainability principle with its own seafaring tradition. The company has always felt a connection to this. After all, the company headquarters is an old sailing school, and the company name is reminiscent of Robert FitzRoy, the captain who went on a voyage of discovery across the world's oceans with Charles Darwin.
Fitzroy's good idea has borne fruit. The special rum is sold via a special wine mail order company with a web shop and three sales outlets in Amsterdam. The successful liquor idea has even reached Germany. „Fitzroy Navy Rum“ was honoured with the „German Design Award 2018“ from the German Design Council in the „Excellent Communications Design Packaging“ category.
