Pack-Track looks to minimise waste from drinks packaging

Pack-Track is taking a look at some of the new drinks packaging that may help to reduce waste from on-the-go drinks.

Andrew Streeter, Director of the independent packaging analyst, said: “Solving the problem of the huge amount of waste generated from our love affair with on-the-go drinks is an increasingly important issue for the packaging industry.

“It is not just about coming up with an alternative to the plastic bottle. We are starting to see some steps forward and some of the latest innovations may well prove popular with consumers. If they do, we could see the technology used spreading to other industries.”

Streeter highlights two new innovations. The Dolphin Smart Drinking Mineral Water has been launched in Belgium. The water is packaged in an eco-friendly pouch branded as SmartPack. Although water has been packaged in a pouch before, rigid plastic is normally used to open and close it.

The most innovative feature of SmartPack is its spout, which opens when the pouch is squeezed and closes when it is released, reducing the risk of spillage. The lack of any rigid plastic reduces waste. No air is sucked back into the package, so the pouch collapses when it is emptied, making it flat for disposal so it takes up less space.

It is the first consumer pack allowed to bear the ‘Clean Netherlands’ mark: an initiative from the Dutch Government designed to support innovative packaging solutions that reduce waste.

Another innovation is the Rebootizer Detox Shaker, which has hit the shelves in Belgium, Canada, the US, and France. The functional drink comes in a sachet containing a single serving. This means that Rebootizer offers the convenience of a bottled drink with the reduced waste of a sachet.

It contains water and a powder, kept separate until the point of consumption, when the user squeezes the sachet to break a burstable seal, mixing the two components together so that the beverage can be drunk straight away. This ensures that the drink is as nutritionally potent as possible. Functional drinks are traditionally packaged in either a sachet, which has to be mixed with water, or in a bottle.