Montbest unveils labelless water bottles as South Korea powers toward plastic-free society

14 Nov 2022 --- Montbest is revealing a “no-label” beverage packaging designed by Gentlebrand as South Korea continues to lead globally in environmentally sustainable packaging and recycling rates. The bottle’s labelless design is a means to abide by South Korea’s increasing number of plastic regulations.

Montbest water is a product brand of the Korean company Korea Crystal Beverage. The company says they had to create “a new product identity” only using the logo, purple colorway and the details embossed directly onto the bottle to convey the brand’s core values. 

South Korea has one of the highest recycling rates in the world, with 86% of Korea’s total waste being recycled. 

The redesign focused on “striking the right balance between the size of the logo and the information required by law,” Montbest writes. Choosing to go labelless is an environmental decision for the company to reduce its plastic usage. 

Label communication issues
Labelless packaging can come with complications in ensuring the item has the proper information displayed for consumer understanding. Therefore, the company stated it concentrated on the legibility of the embossed information. 

South Korean companies ramp up plastic-reduced designs as the country aims to go plastic-free by 2050. Last year, Coca-Cola released its first-ever labelless PET bottles in South Korea, Coca-Cola Contour Label-Free, to adhere to Korean plastic regulations. 

The Montbest bottle is designed with a square shape for optimized consumer grip and is sold in 330 mL, 500 mL, 1 L and 2 L sizes. 

Plastic regulation
The Korean government promised in September 2021 to cut plastic use by 60% before 2030 and become a plastic-free society by 2050. 

The government banned single-use plastic cups at food-service businesses for years, which the government removed during the pandemic for two years. The ban was reinstated in April of 2022 and was recently updated to include disposable cutlery and straws as of this month.

“South Korea and Japan are very concerned with [environmental] sustainability, especially energy transition and resource scarcity. It is the philosophy in these countries [driving advanced recycling],” Susan Hansen, global strategist for food packaging and logistics at Rabobank, previously told PackagingInsights. 

South Korea introduced the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources in 2019, which requires food and beverage packaging to contain labels that show a material’s recyclability grade.

A World Wildlife Fund survey found that 79% of the South Korean public was in favor of manufacturers and retailers taking responsibility for reducing, reusing, and recycling their plastic packaging.

By Sabine Waldeck