Danone launches ‘green plastic’ packaging for its drinking yoghurt brand

By Helen Glaberson

- Last updated on GMT

Following the launch of Danone’s ‘green plastic’ plant-based bottle for its drinking yoghurt brand, the firm said it plans to roll out the packaging in other European countries.

The company first introduced the new Actimel packaging in France earlier this year, following it up recently with a launch in Belgium.

Developed by Brazilian petrochemical companyBraskem, the plant-based material, green polyethylene is a sugarcane-based renewable bioplastic with international certification.

The firm said the change to the new packaging had reduced the carbon footprint of its Actimelproduct by a minimum of 70 per cent withan equivalent saving of 42,000 tonnes of CO2.

Danone said the new plastic was no different in appearance, colour or texture,
and does not affect the taste of the product.

A spokesperson for Danone told DairyReporter.com the packaging might be introduced to its other products but that it was too early to confirm a launch.

Plant-based

To produce the “green plastic​”, the sugar cane is washed, cutand pressed. At the distillery, the cane juice (sucrose) is then fermented and distilled to produce of ethanol to be converted to ethylene. From here it is polymerized to become polyethylene plastic.

The firm said the launch forms part of the company’s wider sustainability goal to​reduce its CO2 emissions by 30 per cent in four years.

At the beginning of this month, Braskem teamed up with Nestle and Tetra Pak to launch a new renewable cap for two of its Brazilian milk brands.

The polyethylene (PE) cap is also made from sugar cane derivatives.

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