Water skin reduces waste

Pitched as a water skin, a new bottle created by French packaging manufacturer Sidel provides a lighter alternative to traditional PET bottles. A regular plastic half-litre water bottle weighs 13 – 16 grams. Sidel’s NoBottle weighs just 9.9 grams. According to Sidel, “Water is the largest beverage market by volume with 160 billion litres consumed in 2006. It also represents the highest growth sector and is expected to expand by 5.7 percent annually between now and 2010.” On that scale, waste reduction of 20-30% adds up. The innovation was made possible by using a highly flexible type of plastic with shape-memory, which lets the bottle bounce back into shape after being gripped or otherwise compressed. While calling a plastic water bottle eco-friendly smacks of greenwashing, Sidel’s NoBottle is definitely is eco-friendlier. The potential waste reduction is significant and offering a lighter bottle — and its story — could boost sales for beverage makers marketing to green-aware consumers. NoBottle will be officially introduced at K 2007, an international trade fair in October. For more packaging innovation, check out push & fizz caps and biodegradable milk jugs. Spotted by: Parvez Ahmed