Danone and Nestlé Waters, the world’s two largest bottled water companies, have joined forces with Origin Materials, a start-up based in Sacramento, California, to form the NaturALL Bottle Alliance. Together, the three partners aim to develop and launch at commercial scale a PET plastic bottle made from 100 percent bio-based renewable material. The project uses biomass feedstock, such as previously used cardboard and sawdust. The technology represents a great opportunity for the entire sector, and the Alliance aims to make it available to the entire food and beverage industry.

“Our goal is to establish a circular economy for packaging by sourcing sustainable materials and creating a second life for all plastics,” declared Frederic Jouin, head of R&D for plastic materials at Danone. “We believe it’s possible to replace traditional fossil materials with bio-based packaging materials. By teaming up and bringing together our complementary expertise and resources, the Alliance can move faster in developing 100% renewable and recyclable PET plastic at commercial scale.”

This next-generation PET will be as light in weight, transparent, recyclable and protective of the product as today’s PET, while being made from sustainably sourced renewable feedstock instead of fossil resources. The R&D will focus initially on cardboard, sawdust and wood chips but other biomass materials, such as rice hulls, straw and agricultural residue could be explored.