TOKYO, April 13 (Kyodo) — Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd., a group company under Suntory Holdings Ltd., said Wednesday it will introduce recycled plastic bottles for part of its soft beverage products in May.
Suntory Beverage & Food will become the first Japanese soft drink manufacturer to use recycled plastic bottles as material for new bottles, it said.
The reuse will enable the company to cut the consumption of petrochemicals for its plastic bottles by 90 percent while leading it to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent, it said.
At present, most collected plastic bottles are used as material for clothing and other merchandise or shipped overseas.
Initially, the company will use recycled bottles for 2-liter Oolong-Cha tea products that are produced at its factory in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, and will use them for other tea bottles from next year, to achieve an annual CO2 emission reduction of 30,000 tons, it said.