UK Soft Drink Ribena to use 100% Recycled Plastic Bottles

Ribena (made by GlaxoSmithKline), the popular soft drink juice brand the in the UK will become the first major brand in the UK or the US to use 100% recycled PET (rPET) bottles in its packaging.

The popular drink currently uses PET bottles with a minimum of 40% rPET content.  The brand will shift to 100% rPET content over the next six months.

Ribena drinks account for 58% of the UK's juice market and the brand produces more than 60 million bottles a year.

The use of significant amounts of rPET in the packaging of a major US drink brand has not occurred as of yet. 

Earlier in the month Coca-Cola announced an ambitious plan to recycle and produce rPET from its bottles.  The company will build a facility in South Carolina with United Resource Recovery Corporation to process the plastic.  As part of the plan, Coca-Cola set a goal to significantly raise the amount of PET it recycles.   

Plans from Coca-Cola to use the rPET they will produce in their own packaging have not been announced.