Petainer’s “Greenest ever” refillable bottle

Specialist plastics packaging technology business Petainer has developed its ‘greenest ever’ refillable bottle using more than 25 per cent post-consumer ‘one-way’ recycled PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) plastic which has the same performance characteristics as a refillable bottle made entirely from virgin material. It gives the same number of ‘round trips’, has the same top-load strength which allows it to be stacked in the same way as other refillable bottles, and provides the same level of retention of CO₂ in carbonated soft drinks.

Petainer’s latest developments in manufacturing technology allow more than 25 per cent of post-consumer waste from used PET bottles to be included in refillable bottles. The company is now working on improving the use of post-consumer recyclate even further.

The company is now working with bottled water companies, carbonated drinks producers and brewers across Europe to put its new ‘greener’ refillable bottles into use.

Research has demonstrated that refillable bottles – which are returned to the retailer by the consumer once emptied, then sent to the beverage manufacturer for washing and refilling – have a lower carbon footprint than one-way bottles that are thrown away after use. This is the case even if one-way bottles are recovered for materials recycling. Petainer had already demonstrated that one-way bottles can be manufactured from 100 per cent recycled material.