New Aquafina Bottles Reduce Plastic Use by 50 Percent
by Trey Granger
Published on March 30th, 2009
13 Comments
Bottled water brand Aquafina, manufactured by PepsiCo, is debuting a new bottle called Eco-Fina that uses 50 percent less plastic and provides the most lightweight half-liter water bottle on the market.
Pepsico's new Eco-Fina will use 50 percent less plastic. Photo: Watersecretsblog.com
The reduction in plastic is actually based on what was used in 2002, as Pepsi and other bottled water manufacturers have already gone to great lengths to reduce the reliance on plastic. The new bottle will save an estimated 75 million pounds of plastic annually.
The Eco-Fina bottles weigh about the same as two quarters when empty, which will also reduce the environmental impact of shipping. Heavier materials require more fuel consumption during transportation.
Creating lighter plastic bottles means less petroleum is used during manufacturing, but it creates more of a need for recycling. Because plastic is already lighter than aluminum or glass, it is more prone to fly out of landfills and end up in the environment. Plastic already makes up between 60 and 80 percent of marine debris.
The current national recycling rate for plastic bottles is around 20 percent. Most are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, or #1 plastic), which can be recycled into clothing material, plastic lumber or even new bottles.
In another development, 24 packs of Aquafina will no longer come with a cardboard base. This is expected to save 20 million pounds of corrugated cardboard each year.
Jennifer Berry
posted on March 30th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I like it that companies are reducing the amount of plastic they use, saving carbon emissions in production, transportation, etc., but with the nat’l recycling rate so low, I feel disinclined to even purchase a disposable plastic bottle at this point.
Kit Parks
posted on April 1st, 2009 at 11:44 am
I am delighted that Aquafina (PepsiCo) is trying to work on the environmental hazzards of plastic water bottles. While I encourage everyone to use a metal reusable bottle to reduce plastic waste and the excessive freight costs of shipping plastic water bottles, for those times when you cannnot, it’s nice to now have a better environmental alternative.
Aquafina’s sales slipped almost 14% last year, so concerned consumers who have pulled back from buying plastic water bottles have, I am sure spurred them on to develop this more eco-conscious bottle. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the overall market for bottled water actually (finally!) declined last year as consumers are now resisting adding to the plastic waste problem. Looks like we are making headway folks!
Danae Isakov
posted on April 3rd, 2009 at 7:32 am
I agree with Jennifer – we should try to avoid using plastic altogether. I will be happy to buy bottled water again when companies start packaging it in biodegradable packaging (NatureWorks bioplastic is an example). The technology is available we should start using it! For now, I use re-usable containers for my water (I like the rubbermaid washable bottles).
Mike
posted on April 4th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Good job Pepsi!
Wadri
posted on April 8th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
This gives us hope that the company thinks about sustaining our environment in its cost benefit analysis. However the greatest joy would arise if other companies would invest in researching alternative to the plastic bottles besides advocating for percentage cut in the use of plastics.
Light Dancing
posted on May 8th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Hi!
I have a need for hundreds of recycled bottle caps from the new Pepsi/Aquafina 500 ml. bottles. Here is how I use them. I give out samples of specially processed Kangen Water using recycled glass “Mountain Valley Spring Water” bottles. They come with aluminum caps, however Aluminum caps are not desirable to me. So I have discovered that most of the small plastic bottles used for Pepsi products, like Aquafina water, Sprite, Mountain Dew, etc., have good plastic caps that fit my recycled glass bottles perfectly. I would like at least 500 of them. Can you please tell me how I can get my hands on a whole bunch of these caps? The color doesn’t matter. Thank you.
Light
Martin
posted on May 26th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Real change is going to have to be consumer driven.
“…more prone to fly out of landfills and end up in the environment.”
There are a heckuva lot of them that fly out of car windows, boats, pedestrian hands etc. without ever gracing a landfill with their presence.
Less plastic seems like a good idea, but it’s a long way from a solution.
Makena
posted on May 28th, 2009 at 1:26 am
We should stop the production of bottles because the waste it produces is about 40 million a year and this information has been last updated since May 9, 2009. There is no way of getting rid of trash by being eco-friendly. So filter your water using Brita and install it on your faucet. I’m in 8th grade and hope this information helps you. Please don’t be bias and judge that I don’t know anything because Im younger then you folks. Even if you recycle it doesn’t help that much. If you need any questions email me at haloboy@yahoo.com or my myspace. http://www.myspace.com/pacmac68
Robert
posted on June 16th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I can’t even get them open so why bother buying one?
Lea
posted on July 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Have any of you people tried to open one of these rediculous bottles? Not only that. When you do get the thing open it squirts water all over the place (including you). You had best think this over and present us with a decent bottle, or risk losing many of us as customers.
Christine
posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I agree with Lea, the bottles leak when opened, and are not user friendly.
Amy
posted on February 26th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
These new bottles are HORRIBLE. They’re so thin they don’t stand up or hold their shape at all.
Sophie
posted on March 3rd, 2010 at 4:48 am
If these bottles are so horrible, why buy the water in cheap bottles instead of just drinking out of the tap?