Rawlings launches ethical glass bottle

Rawlings has developed a lightweight glass bottle for mineral water client Belu in a bid to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.

Through new techniques and innovation, Rawlings, in partnership with sustainability focused glass manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I), were able to reduce the weight of the previous lightweight 750ml and 330ml bottles both by 20g. This entered new ground in terms of manufacturing and lightweighting for O-I.

To translate this weight saving into potential environmental gains, Belu has been able to save 850,000kg of glass annually; equivalent to 2.1 million wine bottles and reduce its carbon emissions by 11%*.

The product branded ‘Ethical Glass’ however is not being retained exclusively for Belu - it is also being made available to other mineral water companies in a bid to lower the industry’s carbon footprint. In doing so, Rawlings and Belu give companies the opportunity to make a positive environmental impact, without the capital costs of developing their own bottle, ultimately acting as a catalyst that will make the industry more environmentally stable in a shorter time frame.

In addition to the bottle’s impressive environmental credentials, a royalty of up to 0.3 pence will be donated to WaterAid for each bottle purchased from the manufacturer. Royalty contributions through bottle purchases made in one year by the entire group of Belu suppliers is expected to amount to a donation of £32,500 to the clean water charity.