evian has announced that it will make all of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025, a move that will see the natural spring water brand adopt a circular approach to its plastic usage, where plastic is kept within the economy and out of nature. Working in close relationship with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to define this roadmap, evian will move from a linear model to a circular one, where all bottles will be made from recycled plastic without the need for any virgin plastics. This will enable plastic to evolve from potential waste to become a valuable resource, the company says.
According to evian, it plans to achieve this through pioneering partnerships to redesign its packaging, accelerate recycling initiatives, and remove plastic waste from nature.
Redesigning packaging: Today, evian bottles are recyclable and globally contain on average across the range 25% rPET. In order to achieve its 2025 goal, evian is partnering with technology companies such as Loop Industries. Loop has developed a technology that enables a continuous loop for recycling at large scale, transforming all types of PET plastic waste into the high-quality plastic required by evian.
Accelerating recycling initiatives: evian is collaborating globally with governments, recycling industry partners such as Veolia, and consumers in the markets where it operates to increase collection and recycling rates of waste plastic bottles. evian says it will keep identifying and supporting recycling solutions to ensure bottles are recycled properly, reducing dependency on newly created plastic while generating a reliable supply of high-quality recycled plastic from which it can draw to produce plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic.
evian says it is determined to leverage its global voice to drive consumer behavior change around plastic waste and recycling. Evian’s #herothezero initiative will start to drive the awareness of the need for change in early 2018, raising consumer knowledge about circularity as a way to change how we think about plastic usage and waste. To help drive this initiative, evian will also create educational documentaries with VICE Impact.
Removing plastic waste from nature: Since 2009, through the Danone Ecosystem Fund, Danone has been supporting long-term, locally-led collection initiatives with positive social, environmental, and business impacts, from reverse vending machines to inclusive recycling programs. evian seeks to help reduce the amount of plastic waste in the environment. To do that, evian, through its parent company Danone, will take part in a research mission with The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit startup that has developed scalable advanced technologies to help rid the oceans of plastic.
Says evian Global Brand Director Patricia Oliva, “Rooted in its pioneering spirit and long-lasting commitment towards sustainability, evian will drive a step change to address the critical issue of plastic. 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.”
To drive the step change required today, evian is calling for partnership and collaboration across industries and beyond to achieve a sustainable, large-scale change in plastic usage and waste management. Therefore, evian is partnering with Mission 2020 to inspire others in this move at the World Economic Forum in Davos and other international events in 2018.
