Alpla transitions Donat to green rPET mineral water bottles aiding Slovenian closed-loop recycling

09 Jun 2021 --- Slovenian mineral water company Donat has replaced its translucent virgin PET and reusable glass bottles entirely with green recycled PET (rPET) bottles.

Dominant in the Slovenian market, green bottles are collected nationwide and recycled at the Alpla recycling plant in Wöllersdorf, Austria, into new water bottles.

“It is not more difficult to recycle green PET in comparison to transparent PET bottles,” Klavdija Vidic, director of R&D and marketing at BU Donat, Atlantic Grupa, tells PackagingInsights.

“PET fractions [collected from household plastic waste] are sorted based on translucent blue and translucent green bottles that can later be recycled for food applications. The rest of the colored bottles are used for recycling into non-food applications,” she explains. 

The move results in an annual saving of 98,000 KWh electricity, 12 metric tons of cleaning product and cuts carbon emissions by up to 90 percent. Furthermore, recycled green bottles normally end up in non-food recycling in Slovenia. 

Calculating the costs
According to Vidic, pre-forms made from 100 percent rPET are around 20 percent more expensive than preforms made of virgin plastic. 

“However, given this is the best packaging solution in terms of expected convenience on the part of the consumer, we consider this higher cost as an investment.” 

Under the “green to green” motto, Alpla introduced fully green rPET bottles to replace Donat’s standard virgin PET and glass bottles.Vidic adds that besides Donat, the other largest mineral water company in Slovenia offers green translucent PET bottles. 

“Since Donat is the only brand on the Slovenian market that packages its whole range of products in rPET plastic, we don’t have a challenge regarding collecting sufficient amount of used plastic bottles in green fractions,” she continues.

2025 competition
Despite these facilitating circumstances, Donat is expecting some material collection challenges in the future. 

The brand’s total volume amounts to 35 million bottles a year, 30 percent of which are 0.5 L bottles and 70 percent 1 L bottles. Around 1,300 metric tons of green bottles have to be collected a year to meet all of Donat’s rPET bottle needs.

“The EU legislation will oblige manufacturers to introduce bottles that contain at least 25 percent of recycled plastic by 2025,” Vidic explains. 

“This may result in shortages of all fractions of used plastic bottles on EU level, not just on Slovenian market.”

For now, the company views 100 percent rPET plastic as the best option. “But technology is so advanced, we believe that we will be able to find even more environmentally friendly materials for our packaging,” adds Vidic. 

Consequently, Donat has already begun searching for alternative materials to fill Donat waters in the future.

By Anni Schleicher