Plastic Soup Foundation
  • The issue
      • Plastic Soup
      • What is plastic?
      • Plastic in the environment
      • Harm to animals
      • Health effects
      • Regulations
      • Bogus solutions
      • Responsibilities
      • Sustainable development
      • Facts & Figures
  • What we do
      • Health
      • Microplastics
      • Education
      • Plastic Waste
  • How you can help
      • Consumer
      • Business
      • Community
      • Kids
      • At school
  • Solutions
  • News
  • Donate
  • NL
  • EN
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: News The future of the refillable bottle is promising

The future of the refillable bottle is promising

28 March 2022

The rapid introduction or reintroduction of the refillable bottle is an exceptionally good way to reduce the plastic soup. The number of bottles that would no longer disappear into the sea would be in the billions.

The revival of the refillable bottle appears to have started. The success of the ‘Universal Bottle’ in Brazil is a contributing factor, as is the fact that soft drink multinationals such as Coca-Cola are being held responsible for the pollution that they cause with their single-use PET bottles.

However, legislation is vital if the refillable bottle is to get off the ground.

REFILLABLE USED TO BE THE NORM

In times gone by, refillable bottles with a deposit were the norm. You handed in the empty bottles, they were cleaned, refilled and given a new label before going on sale. From the 1970s, refillable bottles were gradually replaced by PET bottles that could only be used once.

Refillable bottles are made of glass or PET. Glass bottles can be reused up to 50 times. For PET bottles this is 20 to 25 times. Refillable PET bottles are stronger and a bit heavier than single-use PET bottles. When they are no longer usable, they can still be recycled, just like the glass bottles. An additional advantage is that being highly reusable means that their CO2 footprint is lower than that of single-use bottles.

‘UNIVERSAL BOTTLE’ IN BRAZIL A BIG SUCCESS

In 2018, several brands of Coca-Cola decided to introduce a Universal Bottle. Since then, many brands have used each other’s bottles to refill and sell and this has reduced costs. The Universal Bottle reduces plastic consumption by 90%. In 2019 in Brazil alone, 1.8 billion PET bottles did not need to be produced.

SAVING OF BILLIONS OF BOTTLES

What would it mean for the plastic soup if large soft drink multinationals such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co would change to refillable bottles all over the world? The American NGO Oceana calculated this in a recently published report entitled Just one word: refillables. At present, between 21 and 34 billion bottles end up in the sea every year. If the worldwide percentage of refillable bottles would be 20%, this would reduce the flow of plastics into the plastic soup by 39% and avoid 8.1 to 13.5 billion bottles from disappearing into the sea. Just imagine how much this is.

In some countries, the refillable bottle for non-alcoholic drinks is hardly used while in other countries the percentage is relatively high. According to Oceana’s report, the percentage in the Netherlands is a mere 4% (mostly from the hospitality sector) while the percentage in Germany is 35%.

LEGAL BACKING IS ESSENTIAL

Coca-Cola recently announced that it will sell at least 25% of its brands in refillable and returnable glass or plastic bottles by 2030. Whether this really will transpire we have to see as it is a pledge that the company is taking voluntarily.

The most effective course of action would be if governments would stimulate the use of refillable universal bottles through legislation. The striking difference in percentage between the Netherlands and Germany can be entirely explained by the lack of legislation in the Netherlands that encourages the reuse of bottles.

Some examples of legal measures that Oceana gives are:

  • do not only introduce a bottle deposit system, but adopt different tariffs for single-use and multi-use bottles;
  • place an extra levy on single-use bottles;
  • set a minimum percentage of drinks that must be sold in refillable bottles; and
  • make the Universal Bottle standard.

You may also be interested in:

Is Coca-Cola’s latest promise really a step forward?

Join the Refill Revolution!

Supermarkets’ plastic policy needs a complete overhaul

Search

Categories

  • Animal cruelty (13)
  • sponsoring campaign (1)
  • Microbeads (27)
  • Sponsor actions (3)
  • Ocean Clean Wash (12)
  • About us (1)
  • Plastic Urban Mining (4)
  • Blogs (16)
  • My little plastic footprint (5)
  • Plastic Soup Awards (3)
  • Synthetic fibers (19)
  • Political plume (3)
  • actions frontpage (1)
  • nurdles (5)
  • Pressreleases (2)
  • Microplastics in cosmetics (2)
  • Junior (1)
  • No category (1)
  • News (540)
  • What can you do? (13)
  • Health Files (39)
  • Clean rivers (24)
  • Plastic soupermarket (2)
  • Trash hunters (49)
  • What is plastic soup? (12)
  • What to do with plastic waste? (12)
  • Types of plastic (3)
  • Press releases (16)
  • Beat the microbead (18)
  • Solutions (11)
  • Don't use balloons (3)
  • Gezondheidseffecten (57)

Subscribe to our newsletter

and stay informed about our activities!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Donate now and contribute

I'll donate € 5I'll donate € 10I'll donate € 15Other amount

More news

Glitter = Litter 

Glitter seems fun and harmless, but these microplastics will remain in the environment forever.

Read more

Beat the Microbead. A provisional review of our campaign

After a decade of battle and debate, a European ban on intentionally added microplastics is forthcoming. A reflection on our campaign.

Read more

PLASTIC HEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2023 

We eat, drink and breathe microplastics, nanoplastics and their additives and are thus exposed to the risks of these materials on a daily basis. Let’s make a wave!

Read more

Is there a relationship between dramatic insect mortality and microplastics? 

Insect numbers are dramatically decreasing. Yet, microplastic pollution is rarely mentioned as a possible cause.

Read more

About us

  • Frontrunners
  • Mission & Vision
  • Working with Us
  • Annual Reports
  • Inquiries Press
  • Newsletter

Our approach

  • Business Community
  • Funds & Partners
  • Ambassadors
  • Plastic Soup Awards
  • Plastic Soup Atlas
  • Facts & Figures
DONATE
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • LinkedIn

  • YouTube

  • Contact

 

© Copyright - Plastic Soup Foundation
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
  • GDPR Consent Settings
A call to Australia: stop exporting plastic waste as fuelAMBITIOUS EU PLAN TO CHANGE THE TEXTILE SECTOR
Scroll to top

GDPR settings

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

x
Settings

Your privacy and this website...

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

Functional technology enables a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. No personalised information is collected.

See details

This consent is used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

See details

This consent helps website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting.

See details
Forget my settings Settings have been forgotten