Marks & Spencer will now package all of its small wine bottles in plastic instead of glass. The move, a bid to help protect against environmental damage, will see the 19 bottle range of red, rose, and white wines come in 25cl plastic containers. The company has said that this size of wine bottle is its most popular with customers. According to M&S, six per cent of all wine sold comes in these small bottles, averaging about 100,000 per week. The retailer says the switch will save up to 525 tonnes in packaging each year. The new packages, made from PET, ... Full Story

The planet's biggest manufacturer for the glass packaging industry unveiled study results today detailing the exact life cycle of glass containers. O-I's life cycle assessment (LCA) measures each phase of a glass container's life cycle to account for all carbon emissions. The assessment was part of the company's latest sustainability programme. O-I study incorporated calls from consumer product manufacturers, environmental groups and customers to achieve a clearer idea of LCA reporting. The study is the first of its kind for the packaging sector that follows the complete life cycle of a package. From extraction of the raw materials down to the ... Full Story

As recycling initiatives receive boosts across the board in the UK, one London council aims to recycle 50,000 plastic bottles from Sunday's London Marathon. Westminster City Council says they anticipate collecting up to two tonnes in additional plastic during the London Marathon. According to the council, marathon staff collected all plastic bottles that the runners dropped during the race, and the plastic will be recycled by the city. The plastic can then be recycled to make eco-friendly clothing, upholster car seats, and much more. At least half of all plastic collected will be sent to the Closed Loop recycling facility located in ... Full Story

PepsiCo Inc. announced it will place thousands of recycling kiosks across the country as fears mount that bottles and cans are being sent to landfill instead of recycled. This year, the beverage giant, will install new recycling kiosks at grocery stores, concert venues, and along sidewalks to provide consumers easier access to recycling. Currently, the US's average recycling rate for non-alcoholic beverage containers is 34 per cent. Experts say that the biggest failures in recycling occur with beverages mostly consumed on-the-go, such as cola cans. PepsiCo will now try to curb this phenomenon by putting up 3,000 recycling kiosks in well-trafficked areas ... Full Story

Just in time for Earth Day, Sainsbury's is reporting that they have reached their first target figure for their new Milk Roadmap programme. Designed and launched back in 2008, the Milk Roadmap was created to enhance the use of recycled materials in Sainsbury's milk packaging. The popular UK supermarket can now say that 10 per cent of its HDPE bottles are made from recycled materials. A spokesperson for the company, said that milk is one of the supermarket's biggest sells, with 785 million pints sold last year, representing 958 tonnes of plastic. According to the spokesperson that plastic can be recycled ... Full Story

Sainsburys move to sell milk in plastic bags has met with huge success as sales skyrocket across the supermarket chain. Since the product was introduced across the UK, sales have continued to rise exponentially. Britain's third largest retailer said that the new two-pint bags that require 75 per cent less packing materials than the regular plastic milk containers had reached 110,000 per week. Current sales account for 10 per cent of all two-pint packs of skimmed milk. This figure is double what Sainsburys had forecasted for the product. The supermarket's senior dairy buyer, Emma Metcalf-King, said that sales of the milk have ... Full Story

Thursday is free coffee day at Starbucks for all customers who bring a reusable tumbler to all participating retail outlets. As part of its efforts to encourage customers to bring their own mugs to cut down on paper products, Starbucks will offer a free cup of brewed coffee to any customer that brings their own reusable mug. Currently, Starbucks has set the goal of using 100 per cent reusable and recyclable materials for all their cups by 2015. In order to achieve this, Starbucks will have to make sure their cups can be recycled in all major cities. The coffee giant ... Full Story

This year's Green Retailer of the Year award was given to Tesco at the end of March by the Drinks Business Green Awards. The awards, held annually, are given out to businesses that have made an outstanding effort in eco-friendly retail habits. In recent years, the international supermarket chain has implemented several schemes designed to promote sustainable business practices. Many of these methods have surrounded alcoholic beverages and the company's commitment to making them more environmentally friendly. The company has been instrumental in the development of a 75 per cent paperboard-based product called Tetra-pak. The packing material is easily recycled. Tesco's wide ... Full Story

Starbucks' Board of Directors shot down a proposal last week put forth by one of the coffee giants' shareholders. The proposal called for the already eco-friendly company to take a firmer stance on recycling. The proposal aimed at getting Starbucks to get down even further on the amount of waste which leaves their stores. As You Sow is supporting the measure, which has also been used to get Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to take more aggressive stances for the environment. Despite receiving less than 10 percent in shareholder votes that these companies, the measures were successful in bringing about major recycling changes ... Full Story

According to the Environment Agency’s recently published National Packaging Waste Database, over 1.86 million tonnes of packaging was recycled in 2009. Angus Macpherson, managing director of the Environment Exchange, said that contrary to earlier forecasts, the country’s recycling target had been met last year. He added that there were two main reasons for the success. Macpherson reasoned that the supply of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN) in Q3 and Q4 had significantly increased, mainly due to export growth, while the demand for packaging had dropped dramatically by some 150,000 tonnes, which was lower than the 2008 level. He said that the combination ... Full Story

Green-minded people in Woking are being advised not to just dump their waste in recycling boxes. It was revealed that several recycling bins are being thrown straight into landfills due to contamination. Locals were warned that simple contamination of waste that Wokingham Borough Council’s (WBC) garbage collectors cannot recycle, like crisp packets, will direct the entire bin of items into landfills. The council is aiming to raise its recycling rate to 40 per cent by March next year. WBC now recycles 39 per cent of household garbage, but the council says an intensive effort is required to reach the next one ... Full Story

Britvic had announced recently that its spring water brand ‘drench’ will soon be Britain’s first drinking water to use recycled plastic material. With its bottle made from a plastic called recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET), consumers will be able to enjoy drinking drench without even worrying about the environment. The new packaging of drench will be produced as part of a trial that will include a million of 500ml bottles that contain 10 per cent rPET. The plastic material will be sourced from Closed Loop Recycling, the world’s first PET and HDPE recycling plant based in London, in conjunction with Britvic’s bottle ... Full Story