Jul. 12, 2016

The Pursuit of Environmentally Conscientious Packaging for a More Sustainable World

At Suntory, our mission is to create harmony with people and nature. This mission is fundamental to our existence and it guides and inspires our company every day. To deliver on our mission, Suntory developed Environmental Vision toward 2050, an ambitious set of goals and policies designed to advance our commitment to environmental stewardship.

By pursuing a wide-variety of initiatives at every stage of our operations, from production at our manufacturing plants to our use of containers, packaging, distribution, vending machines and more, we do our part to reduce our environmental impact on the planet.

For instance, to reduce the environmental impact of our packaging, Suntory established voluntary guidelines for the design of PET bottles in 1997. Armed with knowledge from experience and the latest technologies, we continue to design lighter, thinner, and more recyclable PET bottles that have both environmental conscientiousness and are easy for customers to use.

2R+B Strategy: Combining Both Environmental Conscientiousness (Sustainability) and Ease of Use (Usability)

We design PET bottles using an approach called 2R+B* (Reduce/Recycle+Bio) that uses less petroleum-based resins and promotes using recycled materials, while substituting renewable raw materials for petroleum-derived raw materials as much as possible. In 2013, we introduced our Suntory Tennensui Mineral Water 550ml PET bottle composed of 30% plant-based materials. In 2016, our efforts to further reduce our environmental impact included activities such as introducing the world's first PET beverage bottle cap to use 30% plant-based materials. Looking ahead to the future, we aim to create Suntory Tennensui Mineral Water PET bottles that use 100% plant-based material.

*2R+B is a registered trademark.