Evian Volvic Signs rPET Deal with New French Recycling Plant

Evian Volvic Sources has become the first client of the new FPR production unit and has made a reality of its ambitious goal of gradually incorporating up to 50% of recycled PET (or rPET) into its bottles starting in 2010 and thereby significantly reducing its environmental impact.

28 Jul 2009 Groupe Danone’s Evian Volvic Sources has signed an agreement to source high-quality bottle-to-bottle recycled PET material from a new recycling plant owned by France Plastique Recyclage as part of a strategy to boost its green image.

With this agreement, for production equivalent to roughly 35% of the capacity of the plant in Limay, which was inaugurated on 23 June 2009, Evian Volvic Sources has become the first client of the new FPR production unit and has made a reality of its ambitious goal of gradually incorporating up to 50% of recycled PET (or rPET) into its bottles starting in 2010 and thereby significantly reducing its environmental impact.

As soon as the project to build a production unit in Limay was initiated, Evian Volvic Sources (EVS) contacted France Plastiques Recyclage, a subsidiary co-owned by SITA France, itself a subsidiary of Suez Environnement, and by Paprec, to define the technical requirements for the manufacture of very high-quality bottle-to-bottle recycled PET.

The creation of FPR was facilitated by an investment of €40m by its investors and will eventually create 75 to 80 jobs. The recycled PET manufactured at Limay will be used to produce Evian and Volvic bottles and meets the demanding specifications needed to preserve the specific qualities of spring water and to commit to food safety standards higher than those set by AFSSA.

“In collaboration with Evian Volvic Sources, we’ve developed a high-performance facility that can meet the strictest requirements related to food safety,” said Philippe Bourdeix, chairman of France Plastiques Recyclage.

“This new plant can produce very high-quality bottle-to-bottle rPET, which perfectly fulfils our expectations at EVS,” explained Jean-Pierre Deffis, chairman of Evian-Volvic Sources. “Our requirements today exceed market standards.”

With an innovative treatment and purification process, the Limay plant is able to produce granules of recycled PET with the same technical and sanitary properties of raw PET. The facility will recycle 40,000 tonnes of bottles a year starting in 2010 and will produce 30,000 tonnes of rPET.