Have you heard of the American Beverage Association campaign “Every Bottle Back”? The big beverage companies like Coke, Pepsi and Keurig Dr. Pepper have joined together to increase recycling of PET bottles. Just in time for Superbowl this year, they launched a commercial called Back to One.
Their message is very simple and straight to the point: we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment, so please recycle your bottle so it can be turned into a new one.
Having used post-consumer recycled bottles in our manufacturing since 2008, we agree 100% with their message. However, we don’t just want the bottles to be recycled, but all kinds of PET packaging. At our Direct Pack Recycling facility, we reclaim both post-consumer bottles and post-consumer thermoformed packaging, and turn the material into new packaging.
Many people don’t know that PET plastic containers (whether it is a berry, muffin, take-out or any other type of container) share the same DNA as PET bottles. And that means, that they can be recycled and reused too, so they don’t have to end up in landfills or the ocean. We want our packaging back, just like the beverage companies want theirs back! Watch our ambassadors explain the process in our video Beyond Bottle Recycling.
A key in recycling all kinds of thermoformed PET packaging, is having the right label. We are promoting a “wash-away” label approved by APR, The Association of Plastic Recyclers, which separates completely from the packaging during the reclaiming process. That is the same kind of label the beverage companies are using. Paper labels can be difficult to wash off completely, and limits the amount of recycled material you can use in a new batch.