This is a great article. Companies should be going with the best environmental packaging out there, not just what consumers believe is the best environmental packaging because they have suffered from greenwashing or a lack of access to the facts. How amazing would it be to have a bottle made from renewable resources & with the ENSO additive. A renewable, biodegradable & recyclable bottle, that would be amazing.
PURCHASE, N.Y. (Aug. 11, 12:40 p.m. ET) — For a brand owner like PepsiCo, sustainable packaging doesn’t just mean making decisions on a complex set of resource, energy and environmental issues. It also means that you have to understand and determine whether consumers will view what you do as sustainable.
With that in mind, the company has focused on producing increasingly lightweight PET bottles, developing technology to make PET bottles from plant-based resources and agricultural and food waste, and putting Dream Machine recycling bins and kiosks into place in cities to increase the number of bottles and cans that are recycled, she said.
Similarly, consumer perceptions are one of the driving reasons why PepsiCo is working, in partnership with others, to make a PET bottle completely from plant-based materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks.
“If I tell [consumers], it’s 100 percent renewable PET, they understand it and they get it because they want things straightforward,” Lefebvre said.
Since the firm announced in March that it had developed a 100 percent renewable bottle, it has received positive consumer feedback, she said — although that bottle won’t eat go into pilot production until sometime in 2012, and even then, in limited quantities of 100,000-500,000 bottles.
“Consumers like it because you have eliminated fossil-based products [and] they believe that pulling oil out of the ground” is not the route to use anymore, Lefebvre said.
PepsiCo is also working to make its planned renewable PET bottle from organic waste from its food businesses, including orange and potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts.
“Consumers have made it clear that they want us to use non-food resources, or food or agricultural waste [for bioresins] because it doesn’t detriment the environment and it doesn’t take away from food supplies,” she said.
Although many of PepsiCo’s sustainability package initiatives are driven by consumer perceptions, the firm realizes it can’t do things that are not sustainable just because consumers perceive them to be, she said. “Consumers would love an oxo-biodegradable bottle,” Lefebvre said “But right now, the technologies out there would do more harm than good.
Similarly, PepsiCo is not using polylactic bioresin for bottles because she said the material does not have the necessary barrier properties and is problematic in the PET recycling stream.
During a presentation at the Bioplastek conference in New York in late June, Lefebvre said PepsiCo’s objective is to create “performance with a purpose” in its packaging.
A number of companies now make non-petroleum-based ethylene glycol — which is 30 percent of the formulation of PET. And roughly a half-dozen firm say that they have demonstrated in a lab that they can make paraxylene, the building block for terephthalic acid, which constitutes the rest of PET, or plant-based terephthalic acid.
PepsiCo’s main competitor, Coca-Cola Co., has been making its PlantBottle from conventional terephthalic acid and renewable ethylene glycol since December 2009. H.J. Heinz Co. also began using the Coca-Cola PlantBottle for its 20-ounce ketchup containers in July.
Heinz expects to sell 120 million PlantBottle ketchup bottles in 2011; Coca-Cola expects this year to package 5 billion beverages globally in 15 countries in the PlantBottle compared to 2.5 billion last year.
PepsiCo has not discussed technology details for making the renewable terephthalic acid needed for a PET bottle manufactured 100 percent from renewable resources.
PepsiCo plans to model several different types of chemistry in its pilot -cale project to determine their efficiency to make renewable terephthalic acid. “There are a lot of emerging technologies that we will be evaluating, and they all have their pros and cons,” she said. “We’re very open to looking at them all and would be comfortable using several of them,” she said.
Lefebvre said she expects PepsiCo to announce soon on its sourcing strategies for renewable PET bottles. None of those strategies, she said, mean the firm will reduce its efforts to boost recycling of its plastic bottles or aluminum cans.
Since it embarked on its Dream Machine recycling initiative in April 2010, PepsiCo has placed 2,600 Dream Machines bins and reverse-vending kiosks in more than 30 states — at supermarkets, on city streets and other public venues.
The recycling bins are similar to trash cans, but they’re painted Pepsi blue with a recycling message on them. The computerized kiosks give reward points for each bottle or can recycled, which consumers can redeem online at greenopolis.com. — a partner in the program along with Waste Management subsidiary WM GreenOps LLC.
PepsiCo has also developed a recycling initiative for schools, called Dream Machine Recycle Rally, which rewards schools with points for each non-alcoholic plastic bottle or aluminum can students bring to school for recycling.
“It is a self-supportive strategy,” Lefebvre said of the initiatives. “As the program proliferates, it reaffirms to the consumer that recycling is important, and that recycling is just as good as renewables.” The Dream Machines also help the firm bring up recycling rates and get the material it needs to incorporate recycled content in its products, she said.
Just last week, PepsiCo announced that in August it will market the first plastic soft drink bottle to be made from 100 recycled PET in North America. The bottle, 7UP EcoGreen, will be used for diet and regular 7UP sold in Canada. It is expected to reduce the amount of virgin PET used for that product by 6 million pounds a year.
To augment PepsiCo’s supply of recycled PET, the firm last year agreed to buy the majority of its bottle-grade PET pellet and flake from the new CarbonLITE plant in Riverside, Calif., which is scheduled to launch by Sept. 30 with nameplate annual capacity of 100 million pounds.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged articles, biodegradable plastic, biodegradable plastics, consumer preferences, Consumer preferences driving PepsiCo sustainability efforts, consumer reports, do consumers know when they are being greenwashed, ENSO biodegradable additive, ENSO biodegradable plastic, ENSO blend, ENSO Bottles, enso brand, greenwashing, interesting articles, our consumers fallin g for greenwashing, Oxo-degradables, Pepsi, pepsi co bottles, PepsiCo sustainability, PET, PLA, plastic, Plastic news, what do consumer know about plastic, what is biodegradable plastic on August 12, 2011 by ENSO Plastics.
This past Sunday creator of Green News 4 U Mel Wylie interviewed our very own Teresa Clark, Co-founder of ENSO Plastics, LLC.
What is ENSO…How does ENSO work…& Why is the ENSO product different ?
These are just the surface questions that Teresa will be answering in the 14 th episode of Green News 4 U’s Podcasts. Listen to the podcast here!
With the array of misconceptions the “earth friendly” plastics industry current holds, Green News 4 U’s Mel Wylie was determined to get the facts. Being an avid environmental guru, Teresa was able to clearly educate listeners with the facts…no green-washing here. Mel also took the time to get Teresa’s views on some of the most controversial cultural plastic debates of the moment. Some of the topics covered in this podcast include the single use plastic bag debacle, chemicals leaching into water of plastic bottles, proper packaging labeling and much, much more.
Go ahead and check out the podcast here to see how Teresa answered all of green news 4 u’s questions! Let us know what you think of the podcast in the comment box below, and don’t forget to share this blog with your friends.
This entry was posted in Biodegradation, Environmental News, Featured Videos, Latest Blogs, Latest News, Product Innovation, Thought Provoking and tagged are plastic chemicals dangerous for humans, banning plastic bags, biodegradable, chemicals from plastic getting into water, chemicals from plastic leaching into water, different types of earth friendly plastic, different types of good plastic, ENSO biodegradable plastic, ENSO Bottles, enso brand, ENSO interview, ENSO Plastics, green news 4 u, greenwashing, learn more about earth friendly plastic, learn more about plastic, mel wylie, melvin wylie, plastic, plastic chemicals dangerous, recycling, teresa clark, the best biodegradable plastic, the truth about plastics. the truth about earth friendly plastic, what is greenwashing on August 2, 2011 by ENSO Plastics.
We all have seen it, the Recycling logo that screams, Throw me in the Recycling bin and I will be recycled! Well if you look more closely you would notice that in the middle of the chasing arrows there is a number. Do you know what those numbers represent? Well let me explain because it is very important to know.
recycled at a rate of 19.5% the highest of all recycled items.
highest of all recycled items.
at all….so what’s the point of throwing them in the recycling bin?
at a rate of 5.6%.
recycled at a rate of 1.7% .
tableware. These items are recycled at a rate of 0.8%.
As you can see, recycling rates even for the most commonly recycled items are pretty low. Even though Recycling is important waste continues to accumulate in landfills, at sea, and shipped to other countries…that is why ENSO biodegradable and recyclable plastics are so important. For the ENSO plastic that does not end up getting recycled, at least it will biodegrade!
This entry was posted in Latest Blogs, Recycling and tagged art with plastic, chasing arrows, cool art out of plastic, ENSO biodegradable plastic, ENSO brands, ENSO plastic, how does recycling work, how much actually gets recycled, PET plastic, PLA, plastic, recycled art, recyclig, recycling logo, what gets recycled on June 17, 2011 by ENSO Plastics.
I recently came across an unusual and touching fundraiser put on by Project Kaisei. If you haven’t heard of them, Project Kaisei is a California based NGO that focuses on cleaning up plastic waste from the North Pacific Gyre. This company also concentrates on integrating technologies to turn the plastic they collect into fuel or secondary products. Project Kaisei strives to bring awareness, education and showcase new technologies. So far they have taken 2 expeditions into the N Pacific Gyre to study the impacts and issues that result from plastic waste. The plastic waste found there is a mixture of new trash and small plastic pieces that have been broken down by the sun. Most of the plastic is not biodegradable plastic or does not have a chance to, and if it has not washed up on a shore somewhere or sunk to the bottom of the ocean it is still floating at sea.
In order to take another expedition Project Kaisei has come up with a facebook fundraising campaign that involves a Goldfish named Kai.
With every donation, Project Kaisei will remove a piece of plastic from Kai’s future plastic polluted home. This may seem cruel but it’s there way of convincing people to help clean up the Plastic Vortex and save millions of sea life. Whether you plan to donate or not you should check out the page to learn more about this campaign and the amazing work done by Project Kaisei.
ENSO Biodegradable Plastics appreciates this cause because we have a passion for making plastics Earth Friendly.
Tweet & Facebook post about Kai!
This entry was posted in Environmental News, Good Causes, Green Marketing, Latest Blogs, Thought Provoking and tagged campaign, click, design, eco, eco friendly causes, ENSO biodegradable, ENSO Bottles, ENSO Plastics, environmentally-friendly, facebook, fundraisers, Green, green causes, harmful plastic waste, kai, N Pacific Gyre, ocean waste, plastic, plastic choking animals, plastic killing animals, plastic killing sealife, plastic vortex, plastic waste, plastic waste in the ocean, Project Kaisei, save kai, saving animals, saving sea life, sea creatures dying, sealife, technologies on June 14, 2011 by ENSO Plastics.
Our world’s oceans are home to five growing plastic gyres – vortexes of swirling ocean currents filled with degrading plastic that pose a serious threat to marine life.
Captain Charles Moore, noted author and oceanographer, has spent years conducting ocean and coastal samplings documenting plastic fragments along the 40,000 miles of the North Pacific Ocean. Captain Moore was the first to discover the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, otherwise known as the Pacific Gyre, which lies in the northern Pacific near Hawaii. This is the largest of the known gyres – roughly 12,400 square miles in size and growing – and filled with swirling fragmented colorful plastic debris.
Plastic in the ocean takes roughly 600 years to degrade fully. Marine life like sharks, dolphins, whales and numerous species of fish mistake these colorful remnants of our castoff trash as food, often suffering starvation due to the trash being indigestible. Oddly, it’s only the colored plastic they go for, though the clear plastic is also hazardous. Plastic water bottles are regularly found tangled in ocean coral, littering the ocean floor.
Plastic garbage doesn’t just stay in the ocean. Storms periodically break gyres up, pushing waves of trash onto beaches around the globe. Hawaii’s Kamilo Beach is frequently known as Plastic Beach due to its continually being overrun with plastic trash brought in by the ocean’s waves.
This plastic comes in all sizes and forms – discarded toothbrushes, combs, cups and, of course, plastic water bottles. Plastic trash discarded in Asia and Europe makes its way to the ocean, gets caught in the Indian Ocean gyre, then gets pushed back again to litter the once pristine shoreline.
We use 2 million plastic beverage bottles every 5 minutes in the U.S.
“No one is (looking) at it as a global phenomena and at the root causes (to) try to make it stop,” said Cecilia Nord, Vice President – Floor Care Sustainability and Environmental Affairs of Swedish-based Electrolux.
“We need to make it stop,” she said.
“Only we humans make waste that Nature can’t digest,” says Moore.
With plastic trash increasing the world over, and the devastating effect this has on marine life, it’s crucial for consumers to become responsible stewards who take on recycling to a level not seen before is needed.
Individuals doing their part can make the difference.
This entry was posted in Biodegradation, Latest Blogs, Plastic news, Recycling and tagged biodegradable plastic, Captain Charles Moore, Electrolux, environmental, global, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, gyres, innovative, marine life, Nature, oceans, PET, plastic, Plastic Beach, recyclling on November 1, 2010 by datlas.
According to the 2009 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity, recycling increased 28% in the US for the 6th consecutive year.
This statistic was touted in the news as an ever-growing commitment by consumers across the country to recycling efforts. But all is not what it seems.
This entry was posted in Latest Blogs and tagged Consumer Digest, ENSO Bottles, HDPE plastic, NGO., PET plastic, plastic, recycling on October 25, 2010 by datlas.
All plastic is not alike.
Consumers have gotten somewhat familiar with what can or cannot be recycled. But few consumers understand what oxo biodegradable plastic is or the impact that it has on the environment.
Oxo Biodegradable Plastic (OBD) is a polyolefin plastic – a type of transparent plastic often with an oily or waxy feel to it – that’s had small catalytic amounts of metal salts and/or heavy metals added to it.
This statement, however, is misleading. The nature of oxo biodegradable plastic is that it begins to break down almost from the point of its manufacture. This is what gives it a limited shelf life. Manufacturers have tried to combat this by adding anti-oxygen components to the plastic. This, however, weakens the polymer and ends up contaminating the recycling stream. Also these salts and metals are inorganic materials and, because they don’t break down, will remain in the soil or environment long after the material itself breaks down.
This type of plastic poses a real hazard to the environment. Its components break down in fragments, small pieces that are often mistaken by animals for food. There’s no real scientific evidence that small microbes are breaking the plastic down to its natural elements.
ENSO plastic bottles are more environmentally-friendly.
ENSO’s additive is comprised of organic renewable sources. The additive doesn’t react to anything in the plastic, allowing it to retain its original strength, rather than breaking down when exposed to light or oxygen as oxo biodegradable plastic does.
ENSO bottles only begin to break down when placed in a dirt or some other microbial environment that allows microbes to colonize on the plastic, utilizing it as a food source then beginning the process of breaking it down to its basic components of biogas and biomass. ENSO bottles can also safely be integrated into the recycling stream without any worries of contaminating it.
The difference between plastics can be both simple and profound. The type you use can either have a negative impact on the environment such as with oxo biodegradable plastic or a more neutral impact as with ENSO bottles.
Which one you choose makes a difference.
This entry was posted in Latest Blogs and tagged biomass, eco-friendly, ENSO Bottles, environment, environmentally-friendly, organic, oxo-biodegradable, plastic, recycled, renewable on October 19, 2010 by datlas.