Bottle-to-Bottle: How We Distinguish Ourselves from the Competition
January 3, 2024
For more than 55 years, Plastipak has stood out in the plastic packaging industry through a mix of hard work, creativity-driven innovation, and an unwavering commitment to sustainability. As a result, our Bottle-to-Bottle recycling program—where used plastic bottles are repurposed into new packaging—reduces waste and eliminates the need for new raw materials in the recycling process.
By repurposing previously used materials into new, high-quality packaging, we create a closed-loop system that minimizes environmental impact while maintaining product performance. Let’s take a deeper look at the steps that make Plastipak’s Bottle-to-Bottle program a possibility:
The Recycling Process
The collection stage is the foundation of effective recycling. After all, you can’t recycle what you don’t collect.
Because we know the importance of collection in effective recycling, Plastipak’s commitment to repurposing plastic has scaled to unprecedented levels in recent years. Through partnerships with local governments, waste management companies, and private organizations, we are able to recover substantial volumes of post-consumer plastic.
In fact, we set a new Plastipak record in 2023 by recycling over 11 billion bottles — a number that exceeds the population of Earth!
While collection initiates the recycling process, sorting is what distinguishes Plastipak through our selective repurposing of only the highest quality, most reliable, and purest plastics. Through the hard work of staff and the use of first-class technology, Plastipak’s advanced sorting facilities are capable of separating plastics by type, color, and condition.
This precision gives Plastipak an edge by greatly reducing contamination while still delivering the highest-quality recycled content on the market. Our thorough sorting process allows Plastipak to meet quality standards required for food-grade use and other demanding industries.
By maintaining strict standards during sorting, Plastipak ensures each of its recycled materials keep their performance characteristics, which allows them to replace new plastics in a wide range of applications.
Reprocessing is the stage where discarded bottles are cleaned and remade into usable materials. Plastipak uses specialized equipment in the reprocessing stage to reliably refine recovered plastics into new materials suitable for manufacturing.
Our specialized reprocessing techniques produce recycled plastics that often exceed the demands of even the strictest industry regulations, such as those found in food and drink packaging. The reliability and consistency of our final product allows brands to move toward sustainable packaging without sacrificing the integrity or safety of their original product.
A New Life for Recycled Materials
Bottle manufacturing allows recycled plastics to return to the shelves again, providing a sustainable alternative to new production. Once the recycled plastic is reprocessed, Plastipak transforms the resulting rPET and rHDPE materials into new bottles and containers ready for use in a variety of consumer settings.
As the industry leader in producing 100% recycled PET (rPET) bottles for food and beverages, any plastic that leaves the Plastipak facility is held to the highest industry performance standards. Plastipak’s large-scale reuse of recycled materials in our manufacturing processes effectively reduces consumer demand for virgin plastics.
Finally, filling brings the bottle-to-bottle recycling process to an end — and a new beginning.
Many global brands choose Plastipak for sustainable packaging because of our ability to deliver high-quality, eco-friendly solutions at scales of all sizes. With the trust of several billion-dollar corporations on our side, it’s no mystery why Plastipak is consistently selected as the supplier of choice for organizations aiming to reduce their environmental impact without making concessions in operational efficiency. Regardless of scope, we are equipped to tackle every challenge with an end product that gives our clients unparalleled sustainability and performance.
Make no mistake — the creation of repurposed, sustainable plastic products is driven by the growing demand from consumers. When consumers choose recycled products and make informed choices, they’re creating a snowball effect that helps recycling programs succeed everywhere.
The path toward a greener future relies on collaboration between sustainability-minded companies like Plastipak and forward-thinking consumers who want to reduce waste and promote the responsible use of resources.
Once used, Plastipak’s rPET bottles can re-enter a recycling facility and start the process anew. This cycle maximizes the lifespan of reusable materials and keeps them in circulation for many uses—rather than just one.
Plastipak’s Legacy of Sustainability
Plastipak’s expertise in Bottle-to-Bottle recycling is founded on more than three decades of trial, error, and eventual success. In 1989, we created our first-of-its-kind rPET recycling program, Clean Tech. The 35 years since then have been spent fine-tuning and expanding our processes, which we’re proud to say has cemented our status as a worldwide leader in recycling.
Our best-in-class recycled PET meets food safety requirements under FDA regulations in the United States and EFSA guidelines in Europe. We regularly check and re-check the quality, durability, and overall safety of our products used to package a variety of foods and drinks on store shelves today — ensuring the same standard of quality we’ve been known for over the past three decades.
In 2025 and beyond, we’ll keep working to use more recycled materials than ever while relying less on raw materials like virgin plastics. Our team will continue its pursuit of perfecting our processes and pioneering our industry’s path toward a more sustainable future. Each day at Plastipak, we’re focused on making that shift happen.
About Plastipak Packaging, Inc.
Plastipak Packaging, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plastipak Holdings, Inc., is a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality, rigid plastic containers for the food, beverage, and consumer products industries. Plastipak is also a leading recycler of rigid plastic packaging, producing food-grade post-consumer recycled resin for inclusion in new packaging. Plastipak operates more than 40 sites in the United States, South America and Europe, with a total of over 6,500 employees. Its customers include some of the world’s most respected and recognized consumer brands. Plastipak is also a leading innovator in the packaging industry, holding more than 420 United States patents for its state-of-the-art package designs and manufacturing processes. In addition, Plastipak licenses various packaging technologies around the world. Plastipak was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan. Additional information about Plastipak can be found at www.plastipak.com.
Statements in this press release concerning Plastipak’s intentions, expectations or predictions about future results or events are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements reflect management’s current expectations or beliefs, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to vary from stated expectations, which variations could be material and adverse. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the time made, and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any such statements.