Bottled water giant Evian has become the latest high profile brand to announce sweeping plans to crackdown on plastic waste, unveiling a new goal to become a “100 per cent circular brand” by 2025.
The brand, which is owned by French food giant Danone, said it will make all its plastic bottles from 100 per cent recycled plastic by 2025, as part of a new ‘circular approach’ to plastic usage.
It added that it would also seek zero plastic bottle waste through a series of partnerships that will see the company redesign its bottles and accelerate recycling initiatives.
The brand is planning to work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to define a new roadmap to deliver on its targets.
Evian bottles are already 100 per cent recyclable and contain on average across the range of 25 per cent recycled plastic (rPET).
However, to move to 100 per cent recycled materials the firm is planning to work with a number of technology and recycling firms, including waste management giant Veolia and Loop Industries, which has developed a new approach to recycling PET plastic.
Evian global brand Director, Patricia Oliva, said the company was also keen to use its profile to encourage more people to tackle plastic waste.
“Evian will drive a step-change to address the critical issue of plastic,” she said in a statement. “We want to use the power of our global brand to take a leadership position, drive collaboration across the industry and, together with partners, transform our approach to plastic. We’re comitted to move the mindset of today’s generation from ‘we can’ to ‘we do’.”
A new campaign, dubbed #herothezero is planned to drive awareness of circular resource models amongst consumers, which will be supported by educational documentaries that will be made with VICE Impact.
The brand will also join the Mission 2020 initiative, which was founded by former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and aims to mobilise action to curb global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
The move comes as both the EU and the UK government this month announced wide-ranging plans to crack down on plastic waste, which could result in the introduction of plastic bottle deposit schemes and plastic taxes.
It also comes as a host of high profile corporates, including McDonalds, Costa, Iceland, and Waitrose, all this week announced major plans to curb plastic use and increase recycling rates.
Source: businessgreen.com
