AMERSFOORT, The Netherlands – FrieslandCampina, a Dutch multinational dairy cooperative, has announced that it will be using recycled PET bottle from now on for its Friesche Vlag coffee creamers. All single-use glass bottles of the entire coffee whitener line will be replaced with recycled PET bottles. Additionally, FrieslandCampina’s Research & Development department has developed a ‘zipper’ for these PET bottles, which makes the sleeve of the bottle removable and as a result recycling is possible.
Patrick van Baal, Global Director Packaging Development at FrieslandCampina: “Replacing single-use glass, a material which we all have recycled for years already, with plastic may feel wrong. However, we know that the CO2 footprint and the use of fossil resources for our recycled PET bottles is significantly lower than the single-use glass bottles we used in the past.
Besides, the recycled PET bottles are unbreakable, easy to open and they pour better. It is our ambition to become completely circular and to minimise our impact on the climate. With this introduction we take another nice step into the direction of our objective of using circular packaging with a minimum CO2 footprint.”
In the new Friesche Vlag portfolio the PET bottles will contain 140 ml, 300 ml and 500 ml. The carton packagings (455 ml and 929 ml) and the cups will remain.
(Inter)national partnerships
One of the objectives of the sustainability programme of FrieslandCampina Nourishing a better planet is to make better packaging that is 100% circular and CO₂-neutral and with this minimise the amount of packaging material. Therefore the company has laid down its objectives by means of international and national partnerships, such as the European and the Dutch Plastics Pact and the ‘New Plastics Economy’ in the ‘Global Commitment’ of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Do you want to know more about how FrieslandCampina is actually working on sustainable packaging for reduced emissions? Watch this animation video.
*The PET bottles of Goudband and Halvamel are made from 100% recycled material. The caps and the sleeves are not made from recycled material. The PET bottle (excluding caps and sleeves) of Balance consists of 89% recycled material. As Balance is a sensitive product, it is all the more important to make sure that no oxygen can enter the bottle. In order to establish this, we add a so-called extra ‘oxygen barrier’ to the bottle. This is why the bottle cannot be made from 100% recycled PET yet. We will keep working on improving this. All bottles are completely recyclable after the sleeves – which are not recyclable – have been removed and the caps have been put on again.
