Starting in April, Perfact and The Water Company (TWC) are joining forces for an innovative and groundbreaking project called “The Natural Bottle. This project does away with litter in the form of empty bottles.
They are unleashing a true revolution in the packaging industry with the launch of a fully biodegradable water bottle. But what makes this “The Natural Bottle” so special? For starters, it’s not just a water bottle. In fact, this microplastic-free bottle is designed for both water and non-carbonated soft drinks and is fully compostable due to the raw materials used in it. In addition, TWC also offers the ability to produce them on site, eliminating unnecessary transportation back and forth. So many gains, in terms of sustainability.
From reusable to biodegradable bottle
Why is there a need for such an initiative? Worldwide, only 20% of traditional PET bottles are recycled. In the EU and the US, this percentage is fortunately a bit higher, about 60%. In countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, where there are good recycling facilities and the deposit system, plastic bottle recycling is effective. However, in many other regions of the world, such as parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Central and South America, the situation is different. There, the average waste often ends up in rivers and eventually in the sea. A biodegradable bottle can provide a real solution in this context.
PET has been a popular material used primarily to produce bottles since the 1970s. However, the problem with current PET bottles is that they have limited recyclability. Because the material degrades, it can only be reused for a few cycles. Moreover, it takes 450 to 700 years for a bottle to break down in nature, which also releases microplastics that are harmful to humans and animals.
Production
The structure of the bottle consists of paper-based materials and compostable polymers. This gives it a shelf life of at least one year. Should the bottle unexpectedly end up in nature after use, it will completely degrade there within 180 days without releasing harmful microplastics.
TWC plans to produce 20,000 bottles per day, with a goal of producing 171 million bottles annually by 2026. The concept, consisting of a recipe, raw materials and a production license, will be sold under license to bottling companies worldwide. The idea is not to transport the empty bottles, but to set up facilities for the production of biodegradable bottles at the bottling plants themselves.
Investment Perfact
In order to understand what the innovations look like in the coming periods and what budgets are needed to realize this, a detailed milestone planning was made in which the development of the bottle, the necessary studies, the production process as well as the scale up process were worked out. Michael Müller has until recently been involved on behalf of Perfact in the role of CTO. Likewise, he has
been involved in chemical technology research and development.
To support TWC, we as Perfact Group invested in the form of a stake in the company. In this way, we encourage the promising growth of TWC and The Natural Bottle, and give additional substance to our sustainability goals. This project is a great example of how innovation and sustainability can go hand in hand to not only change the world of beverage packaging, but also make a positive impact on our planet.
