Nestlé has developed the packaging for two new water bottles designed to function just like traditional plastic bottles but with much less plastic.
The new Vittel GO system and Vittel Hybrid water bottles are part of the company's continuous efforts to introduce novel packaging materials to help reduce its use of virgin plastics by one third by 2025.
The Vittel GO system consists of a reusable hard protective case designed to hold 50cl refills of Vittel natural mineral water that are made with 40 per cent less plastic than a traditional 50cl Vittel bottle. As the bottles are made with as little recycled plastic as possible, they are very flexible and light, and must be used with the reusable protective case to make it easy to drink the water.
The 100 per cent recyclable 1-litre Vittel Hybrid bottle is made from two types of materials.
The first is an ultra-thin plastic bottle made entirely from recycled content, and is said to use twice the amount of reduced plastic than that of a classic 1L bottle. The second is a fibre-based material, which surrounds the plastic layer, and is made from 100 per cent recycled cardboard and old newspapers.
Proprietary technologies enable the plastic and fibre-based layers to be locked together to create a functional, sturdy water bottle that can be easily used without any damage.
Nestlé packaging experts are currently developing a tearing system which allows consumers to easily separate the paper and plastic components for recycling when the hybrid bottle is empty.
The Vittel GO system and Vittel Hybrid bottle were developed by experts at Nestlé's research and development centre for Waters in Vittel, France who received special funding from Nestlé's internal R&D 'Shark-Tank' initiative. To develop the hybrid bottle, the experts worked in collaboration with Ecologic Powered by Jabil, a Californian start-up that specialises in eco-design of packaging.
A video of the new innovations can be seen here.
