Ocean Pollution
It’s fair to say that most of us would have seen Blue Planet II by Sir David Attenborough and the heart-breaking scenes of ocean pollution. Left in utter despair, organisations began to take direct action to rid our oceans of pollution, such as 4ocean that has recovered a record-breaking 25 million-pounds of waste. However, according to the ICUN (2021), at least 14 million tons of plastic flow into the oceans every year, and by the time a plastic bottle reaches our oceans, it’s too late. The sun and seawater degrade the plastic, making it largely unusable for recycling. This is where our collaboration with Prevented Ocean PlasticTM comes in.
What is Prevented Ocean PlasticTM ?
Prevented Ocean PlasticTM, supplied by Bantam Materials, is high-quality, food-grade, and award-winning recycled plastic material that has been collected from coastal areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution. The material is categorised as ocean-bound plastic, meaning that it has been found within a 50km distance of an ocean coastline, and would have been at high risk of ending up in our oceans if it had not been collected for recycling.
Prevented Ocean PlasticTM is one of the most impactful types of recycled PET as it is directly associated with a remarkable social story that addresses triple bottom line sustainability. Discarded plastic PET bottles are collected by local micro-entrepreneurs and taken to a collection centre for payments. The bottles are then sorted and pressed for transport to a recycling factory, where they are washed, sanitised, and processed into raw material flakes or pellets, all according to EU standards No 10/2011, No 2023/2006, and No 282/2008.
Each batch of Prevented Ocean PlasticTM material is accredited by best-in-class certifiers. Importantly, without this certification, the material can’t be categorised as ocean-bound plastic. This additional auditing step allows Packamama’s customers to obtain complete transparency and traceability of our Prevented Ocean PlasticTM wine bottles, from the beach to the retail and supermarket shelf!
The Power of Prevented Ocean PlasticTM
Tackling plastic pollution was rated one of the highest priorities for consumers (EIU, 2021), and in the EU, over half of citizens are seeking products in environmentally friendly packaging (2018). However, communicating a product’s sustainable credentials can be a challenging task. Today’s consumers are faced with around 350 different eco-labels (2022), giving them considerable onus to make the right environmental choice.
The power of Prevented Ocean PlasticTM is that consumers instantly understand the material, and directly associate it with a positive outlook. By choosing Packamama’s flat, 100% Prevented Ocean PlasticTM wine bottles, organisations can apply the Prevented Ocean PlasticTM logo to communicate the product’s green credentials simply and effectively. This not only builds positive environmental brand recognition, but it also directly unpicks an emotional and heart-felt story that brings a feel-good factor to consumers when shopping.
Packamama and Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy group (LVMH) Collaboration
We collaborated with LVMH’s Château Galoupet to create the world’s first wine bottle made entirely from Prevented Ocean PlasticTM. After systematically evaluating different packaging solutions for their rosé de Provence, the luxury brand identified the eco-flat wine bottle as the “perfect solution for Galoupet Nomade” (Jessica Julmy, Managing Director at Château Galoupet).
The use of Prevented Ocean PlasticTM was a first for the wine industry, and Château Galoupet complemented their choice of using ocean-bound plastic with an intricate serigraphy label design of the coral reef. The recyclable, flat Prevented Ocean PlasticTM wine bottle strongly displays the winery’s desire to tackle ocean pollution and opt for a more climate-friendly and innovative packaging solution that addresses wine’s carbon footprint hotspot.
The Future for Prevented Ocean PlasticTM in Wine
Packamama is on a sustainability mission to help tackle ocean plastic pollution and collect the valuable material before it’s too late. We believe in being plastic-smart, taking into account the entirety of the product’s lifespan. During 2023, we are determined to put ocean-bound plastic to the forefront and strongly encourage our customers to go the extra mile by addressing triple bottom line sustainability with Prevented Ocean PlasticTM.