News Release

“FtoP Direct Recycle Technology” receives “WorldStar Award” at World Packaging Organisation’s “WorldStar Packaging Awards 2019”

Suntory Monozukuri Expert Limited has been awarded “WorldStar Award” in the World Packaging Organisation’s “WorldStar Packaging Awards 2019” for its “FtoP Direct Recycle Technology”. The award ceremony will be held on May 15, 2019, in the Czech Republic.

The purpose of the “WorldStar Packaging Awards” is to develop and spread the world’s best packages and their technology. “WorldStar Packaging Awards 2019” are given to works selected from the winners of various national contests.

Suntory’s winning entry, “FtoP Direct Recycle Technology” used in manufacturing PET preforms^*1 for soft drinks was developed jointly with Kyoei Industry Co., Ltd., Italy’s SIPA, and Austria’s EREMA. (See the news release)
This technology has further developed and streamlined the bottle-to-bottle recycling method, which makes recycled PET bottles out of PET bottles. A technology in which “flake” created by pulverizing and washing recovered PET bottles is treated at high temperature and low pressure for a fixed period and that, after being melted and filtered, enables the preform to be manufactured directly. In order to form preforms of uniform quality, it is important to pour the melted flake into the molding machine at a constant pressure, and the development of this technology involved putting up actual facilities and verification over a protracted period of time. In comparison to the previous setup, which required a large number of processes leading up to the manufacture of the preform, such as crystallization and drying, it is estimated that reductions*² in CO2 emissions of approximately 25% will be possible.

*1 A PET bottle template shaped like a test tube and made from PET resin. The PET bottle is formed by heating this and injecting air under high pressure.

*2 Per 1kg of PET bottle preforms manufactured

●FtoP Direct Recycle Technology

● About Suntory Group’s environmental activities
With the aim of fulfilling the Suntory Group's corporate philosophy of “In Harmony with People and Nature,” in addition to promoting global environmental management, we are involved with a variety of activities to reduce the environmental impact, so as to leave a sustainable global environment to future generations.
In accordance with the Suntory Group’s original motto of “2R + B,” standing for Reduce (reduce the amount used), Recycle (reuse resources) and Bio (use plant-derived resources), we are carrying out various activities with regard to PET bottle development.
We believe used PET bottles can be more effectively utilized as a precious renewable resource by repeatedly recycling them into new PET bottles. Based on this, we developed a bottle-to-bottle mechanical recycling system^*3, a system which makes recycled PET bottles out of PET bottles, the first of its kind in Japan, with Kyoei Industry Co., Ltd. in 2011, and are proactively using recycled PET bottles.
Also, we have worked continuously to develop PET bottles with a reduced environmental impact, such as by introducing the lightest*⁴ domestically manufactured PET bottle, 30% of which consists of plant-based materials, for use in the 550ml size of Suntory Tennensui, and by constructing a trial plant for PET bottles made from 100% plant-based materials.
Suntory Beverage & Food Limited intends to make use of the award-winning “FtoP Direct Recycle Technology” to meet its medium-term goal of using recycled PET materials in at least half the PET bottle weight of Suntory’s domestic soft drink business by 2025.
Suntory will further enhance its global environmental preservation activities, toward the creation of an even more recycling-oriented society.

*3 One of the means used to recycle PET bottles. A method by which used PET bottles are pulverized and washed, then further treated under conditions of high temperature and low pressure for a fixed period of time in order to remove impurities from the recycled material.

*4 Based on a domestic mineral water PET bottle market in the 500 ml to 600 ml size range, As of December 2018