Biodegradable Water Bottles - PLA

Biodegradable Water Bottles

Some History Of Our PLA Water Bottles

More recently, a large outdoor weekend event in New York City utilized the biodegradable water bottles (without a  plant-based caps) in the summer of 2018 and several major events. Bottle, cap, and the label must all be plant-based plastic to ensure that the waste stream can be properly processed in different “end of life” environments. With a petroleum plastic cap, two end-of-life streams are needed. The bottle composts well, but the cap and the ring around the neck of the bottle remain in the compost because they do not compost and pollute the compost. When burning our bottle, no harmful substances are released, but with the plastic cap, that statement cannot be made. Also with recycling, the PLA would be contaminated, if the tamper-evident band comes from petroleum.

All in all, it was time we started developing a 100% plant-based compostable cap. It took almost five years of trial and error to develop a compostable closure, but our biodegradable water bottles, cap, and label are finally 100% plant-based. A product that can be processed in recycling, compost installations, boilers, and/or possibly digested in a digester that has been in continued research and development for almost a decade.

At the moment, our PCO1810 preform and closure is ready for mass production. This 23.5-gram preform with a 28mm neck has a light blue color and is suitable for 500 ml. bottles.