Tom Fiennes, Commercial Sustainability Director at Britvic, comments: “At Britvic, we’ve announced our intention that all bottles produced and sold by us in GB will be made from 100% rPET by the end of 2022. We have already made huge progress towards this goal, but are pleased to confirm the next step in achieving our target by making the change across leading brands.”
Additionally, to gather insight around consumers changing habits and brand preferences based on sustainability credentials, Britvic has also commissioned independent research. It reveals that the majority of Brits (80%) think it is important that manufacturers and brands use recycled plastic2, with over half (58%) stating they are more likely to choose a soft drink brand that communicates its use of 100% rPET on-pack, than those that don’t2.
Fiennes continues: “The research we’ve commissioned gives us further insight into consumer habits and how these are impacted by sustainable efforts on behalf of manufacturers, retailers and foodservice outlets. This goes to show how important it is for retailers, and operators, to offer a range of sustainable products and that this can affect consumer loyalty.”
Lipton Ice Tea was the first to make the change, with 100% rPET 500ml bottles on shelves this summer. They are the first bottles to use Esterpet packaging following Britvic’s £5m investment support in Esterform’s rPET manufacturing facility in 2019. Each bottle will state its 100% recycled plastic credential clearly on pack, helping consumers make informed decisions on their purchases.
Operators need to offer their customers the right drinks for the right occasions, and back well-known brands such as Tango, Robinsons and Pepsi MAX® which consumers know and trust. We know that during the pandemic soft drinks remained the number one category bought on a food to go mission, and our latest research reflects this[1], with a quarter of those surveyed saying the reason they buy soft drinks on-the-go is to have them with food at lunchtime. Operators should be including soft drinks in their meal deal solutions, clearly signposting the offer and encouraging cross-category purchases to maximise the opportunity.
Additional research results:
- 58% of Brits state they are more likely to choose a soft drink brand that communicates it is using 100% recycled plastic in its bottles, over a brand that doesn’t say this on-pack
- Majority of Brits (80%) think it is important that manufacturers and brands use recycled plastic (42% say it is extremely important)
- Over half of Brits (60%) will return to a specific store if they have more availability of sustainable products that use recycled plastic
- 94% of Brits recycle one or more plastic bottles each week
- Despite 93% of Brits recycling as much waste as possible, 58% still say they could do more to be eco-conscious in their daily life
- 31% worry a great deal about the state of the world they’ll leave behind for the next generation
- A third of Brits perceive a lack of understanding about what needs to go in what bin as the greatest barrier to recycling
All featured GB Pepsi and Britvic single serve plastic bottles (500ml and 600ml), excluding caps/labels, are made from 100% recycled plastic. Larger bottles (over 1L) planned to change to 100% recycled plastic by the end of 2022.
OnePoll research, 2,000 UK adults, Recycling Lifetime Survey, commissioned by Britvic, August 2021
1 All featured GB Pepsi and Britvic single serve plastic bottles (500ml and 600ml), excluding caps/labels, are made from 100% recycled plastic. Larger bottles (over 1L) planned to change to 100% recycled plastic by the end of 2022
2 OnePoll research, 2,000 UK adults, Recycling Lifetime Survey, commissioned by Britvic, August 2021
[1] Research commissioned by Britvic, July 2021 (2,000 shoppers)
