Britvic Soft Drinks - Case study: Reducing packaging

Britvic has recently reduced the amount of glass used to bottle its popular J2O juice drink as part of its ongoing work to reduce packaging and energy use.

The new 275ml bottle is 20g lighter than before, with each bottle now weighing just 180g. This represents a saving of about 4,000 tonnes of glass per annum – the equivalent to 20 million bottles of J2O a year.

The new design has generated significant energy savings of around 10% as less glass is used during bottle blowing. The lighter bottle requires less fuel to transport. And its introduction has also led to improvements in filling line efficiencies – due to the bottle being lower in height.

There is no visible change to the J2O bottle – even though the height has been reduced by 5mm, the volume remains the same. The bottle has maintained its durability and strength, ensuring that it can be stacked and stored as usual, which is critical for Britvic's customer needs.

Britvic was the first soft drinks company to sign WRAP's Courtauld Commitment.

The new J2O lightweight bottle represents another significant step towards Britvic's target to remove a total of 5,000 tonnes of packaging by December 2010 as part of WRAP's work.

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