Ditching plastic bottled water for a recyclable bag

Food and beverage packaging provider SIG has introduced a recycle-ready bag for water, developed and manufactured in Australia.

The current bag, which contains aluminium, will be replaced by SIG Terra RecShield, a material structure with a polymer composition. This means that all components of the bag-in-box packaging are now recycle-ready.

This development is in line with the Australian 2025 National Packaging Targets which aim to further advance sustainable packaging practices.

The system is designed to fit any container size or shape, giving brands the flexibility to fill many volumes with a variety of fitments on the same filling machine.

SIG’s Australian Research & Development team is now turning its attention to further minimising the carbon footprint of packaging. In the coming months, SIG will also introduce recycle-ready packaging alternatives for alcoholic beverages and foodservice applications.

Carmen Houston, ANZ Head of Marketing & Sustainability at SIG, said: “SIG has been working closely with the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization (APCO) who oversees the implementation of the Australian 2025 National Packaging Targets. Our Australian-based research and development team have achieved a significant milestone in advancing packaging technology, with our bag-in-box packaging for water having been assessed through the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP) as having met the criteria for recyclability in Australia.”

The packaging for water is now commercially available and should be on supermarket shelves in mid to late September.

Image credit: SIG.