Watsons Water to use 100 percent rPET

The non-profit group Ocean Recovery Alliance (ORA) has announced that Hong Kong-based Watsons Water has implemented ORA’s recommendation to begin using a transparent bottle body made of 100 percent recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material, or rPET.

According to the ORA, the bottle is the first of its kind in Asia to be made from 100 percent rPET.

Douglas Woodring, founder of ORA, says he introduced Watsons Water to the possibility of using 100 percent recycled PET, urging the company to exert a strong positive influence to sustainability in packaging and promotion of the circular economy, whereby material and products are designed for recycling.

“Recycled PET is a very exciting new product and we need it to scale across the bottling industry so that the billions of bottles used today can be recovered as a resource, and used effectively again, while reducing waste at the same time,” says Woodring.

“This has a beneficial impact on our communities, tourism, health, job creation and both marine and terrestrial ecosystems,” he adds.

Watsons Water touts itself as the largest manufacturer of pure distilled water in the world. The company has production plants in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, China.

Watsons Water also has initiated a “Plastic Bottle 3-Step Recycling Method” to educate the public about the correct recycling procedure, which it says will help take Hong Kong toward a greener path of waste reduction.

Ocean Recovery Alliance also is the organizer of the Plasticity Forum. The 2015 version of the event takes place June 8-9 in Cascais, Portugal.