Dasani Repackages Its Water Bottles, Meeting Sustainability Goals

Coca-Cola Co. is revamping the packaging for its Dasani water bottle brand to meet its ‘World Without Waste’ initiative that intends to make all of its bottles with 50 percent recyclable material by 2030.

Dasani’s new line of sustainable packaging will include a 20-ounce Hybrid Bottle that is set to launch across the US in mid- 2020. The new bottle will be made of 50 percent plant-based renewable and recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

The added plant-based material will reduce the amount of virgin PET plastic needed to make the bottles, providing a more sustainable resource for production. This also complements the company’s ambitions of removing 1 billion virgin PET bottles from their US supply chain over the next five years.

In addition, Dasani will also be introducing aluminum cans and bottles in the Northeastern part of the US this fall with plans to expand to other regions by 2020. The brand will also implement “How2Recycle” labels on their Dasani products next month to further encourage recycling among consumers.

“Designing our packages to reduce the amount of raw materials used and incorporating recycled and renewable content in our bottles to help drive a circular economy for our packaging is an important part of our commitment to doing business the right way,” said Lauren King, brand director at Dasani.

Furthermore, Coca-Cola will be implementing 100 more of Dasani’s package-less water dispensing machines, also known as ‘Dasani PureFill’ to test if consumers respond well to using their own bottles to fill up on the brand’s water.

“While there is no single solution to the problem of plastic waste, the additional package and package-less options we are rolling out today mark an important next step in our effort to provide even more sustainable solutions at scale,” said Sneha Shah, group director for packaging innovation at Coca-Cola North America.

As consumers start to show more interest in food and beverage items that value health and sustainability, Dasani’s recent advancement could resonate well with this growing consumer base and in turn increase the brand’s revenue.

However, Coca-Cola isn’t the only company rethinking its beverage packaging; major competitor, Pepsico, has also announced sustainability goals which will offer their Aquafina bottled water line in aluminum cans, as well as switch their Lifewtr bottle to 100 percent recycled plastic by 2020.

As more industry giants grow conscious about their environmental footprint, it will be interesting to see how companies will work to improve their sustainability goals to meet the demands of their shared consumer base, as well as differentiate themselves in a competitive market.

Until then, we will have to wait and see whose packaging resonates better with consumers. As of now, Aquafina takes the spotlight as the top water bottle brand in the US with Dasani coming in second, but if the company make bigger efforts to reduce waste it could rise to the top spot in the years to come.