Radnor Hills, the UK water and soft drinks manufacturer, has announced the move towards using 51% recycled plastic (RPET) for their PET bottles, in order to support the UK government’s proposal on plastic waste.

The production of RPET started at the beginning of July, with the 500ml water bottles being the first to make the move. Currently, the family owned and run manufacturer is in the process of changing all plastic products over to RPET, hoping to finish by August 2018.

Although suppliers are working hard to try and make the RPET bottles a little clearer, the colour of the bottle has no effect on the quality and taste of the product inside it. Radnor Hill will also work, where possible, to create a closed loop system with their suppliers for all waste created on site; meaning that all waste streams that can be recycled from their production processes are recycled and, by the end of 2018, they will achieve zero to landfill on all waste.

“We are very proud as a business to have taken this next step towards a more sustainable future and we hope this encourages more people to recycle their plastic bottles. The use of RPET saves raw materials, reduces waste and creates a better environment for us all” explained William Watkins, Managing Director at Radnor Hills.

The new RPET bottles will still be 100% recyclable so that they can be remanufactured into a multitude of items. Bottles then can be recycled to make T-shirts, sweaters, fleece jackets, insulation, sleeping bags, carpeting and of course plastic bottles. It takes 10 bottles to make a T-shirt and 63 bottles to make a sweater.

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