Global coffeehouse chain Starbucks is the latest brand owner to address the issue of plastics wastes that has become a huge global challenge. With the Pacific Garbage Patch now said to be over three times the size of France, brand owners, recyclers, and consumers are keen to solve the burgeoning issue.
Sustainable designs are a way of addressing ocean wastes. Water bottle company Soma has partnered with Parley and Starbucks to produce a reusable BPA-free glass vessel. The 17 oz. BPA-free glass bottle is wrapped in a neoprene sleeve made from the equivalent of two PET plastic bottles that have washed up on the shores of islands or coastal communities around the globe.
The product is manufactured by first compressing chunks of PET bottles into pellets. Thereafter, the pellets are melted into a filament that is converted into neoprene, which is then woven into the final sleeve shape.
The end product is a sleeved glass bottle available at various Starbucks outlets. It not only helps reuse post-consumer PET bottles but also tackles the bigger problem of ocean wastes - in a meaningful way.
At CMT’s 8th PETAsia & Recycling Outlook on 30-31 October in Bangkok, Nextek presents two key sessions addressing RPET and ocean plastics – namely ’Ocean Plastics Prevention Programs for PET Manufacturers & Brand Owners’ and ‘Optimising Recycled Content to Meet Brand Owners Specifications’.