Capri Sun Puts Processes to the Test Sustainable Economy – for Increased Quality and Safety

The thinner foil currently used for the stand-up pouch not only helps the environment through less material use and fewer pollutants, but also saves material costs.

08/06/07 WILD, Heidelberg/Germany, has commited itself to sustainable economy. This includes optimizing packaging and ingredients of its branded product Capri Sun regarding ecological aspects. The basis for the improvements in packaging was an outcome of the life-cycle assessments, drawn up by impartial experts over the past ten years. The Capri Sun stand-up pouch was compared with competing packaging systems such as returnable bottles and beverage cartons.

In performing the assessment of the Capri Sun packaging, the pouch manufacturing process and the amount of energy, intermediate products, raw materials and supplies were investigated, as well as the emissions and waste produced. On top of this came the outlay for the energy and preliminary products, transport, actual usage of the packaging, and disposal processes for the packaging and for production waste.

For each of these sub-process, information was analyzed concerning the input of preliminary products and resources from the environment and the output of products and emissions into the environment. The life-cycles of other forms of drink packaging, such as returnable glass bottles and beverage cartons, were assessed in the same way.

Using facts to tackle preconceptions The Capri Sun stand-up pouch performs significantly better than the returnable glass bottle in four out of ten categories in the life-cycle assessment: It requires less process water from manufacture through disposal, requires less transportation, and also stands out due to its low eutrophication potential and low toxicity to humans. It is equal with the returnable bottle in four other categories, and falls behind returnable packaging only in terms of the wood needed for producing outer boxes and its ozone production potential.

The results of the life-cycle assessment clearly show that the outstanding relationship between contents and packaging, low transportation outlay, minimal waste volumes and environmentally friendly recycling make the Capri Sun stand-up pouch an
unbeatable form of beverage packaging. In contrast, returnable glass bottles, generally viewed positively by the public, require increased energy to produce and transport. Glass bottles add to the greenhouse effect and soil acidification and require an above-average disposal area at the end of their life-cycle. Basis for continuous improvements Life-cycle assessments help to uncover improvement potential regarding packaging and product. During the assessment, it became apparent that using a thinner foil for the pouch would greatly decrease the overall environmental impact of Capri Sun packaging. The thinner foil currently used for the stand-up pouch not only helps the environment through less material use and fewer pollutants, but also saves material costs.