Poland Spring® Brand 100 percent Natural Spring Water, America’s leading spring water brand, has started transitioning its packaging to recycled plastic (rPET), and plans to be the first major bottled water brand to reach 100 percent recycled plastic across its still water portfolio by 2022. The brand’s one liter bottles are currently being made using 100 percent rPET.
In April, the brand launched a premium offering, Poland Spring® ORIGIN in 900mL bottles, which are also made entirely of recycled plastic.
This initiative comes just months after Poland Spring’s parent company, Nestlé Waters North America, announced that it will achieve 25 percent recycled plastic across its U.S. domestic portfolio by 2021. The company plans to continue expanding its use of recycled materials in the coming years, further setting an ambition to reach 50 percent recycled plastic by 2025.
Poland Spring’s current packaging, which is predominantly made using PET plastic, is already 100 percent recyclable, and the company views its push toward using more recycled materials to be the next phase in making its packaging more sustainable and addressing the issue of plastic waste. Using recycled plastic helps keep plastic out of landfills and oceans, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to using virgin plastic.
However, as recycling rates in the U.S. still hover around 30 percent, Poland Spring recognizes that in order to fulfill its commitment to use recycled plastic in its packaging, it must also invest in initiatives that help plastic bottles get back in the recycling bin in the first place. That’s why Poland Spring, along with its parent company, is collaborating with organizations like Closed Loop Fund to help increase recycling infrastructure. The brand is also expanding How2Recycle labels across all of its packaging, to remind consumers to empty the bottle, replace the cap and recycle when they’re done.
“To achieve a circular economy, we, as brand owners, need to inspire people to think and act differently when it comes to plastic,” said David Tulauskas, vice president and chief sustainability officer at Nestlé Waters North America. “I cannot think of a more meaningful way to connect with our consumers than to bring to market a more sustainable bottle that they themselves helped to create simply by recycling.”
Published in the July 2019 Edition