‘Plant Bottle’ to launch at local festival

‘Plant Bottle’ to launch at local festival

A new water bottle that will help New Zealanders reduce the effects of plastic waste will be debuting at Wanaka's TUKI festival on February 10.

The Plant Bottle will be sold and recollected within a closed-loop, waste-free system developed by the Southern Lakes-based company For The Better Good to help eliminate plastic waste.

For The Better Good (FTBG) are taking responsibility for every bottle they sell and ensuring it is dealt with correctly, The bottle is 100% made from plants and will be composted and recycled in New Zealand, and the current lid, which is made from 100% recycled polypropylene, will also be recycled domestically. FTBG have also developed one of the world's first 100% plant based, 100% compostable lids for water bottles, an innovation that will not be ready in time for TUKI, but will be released not long after the festival. The company is also trialling a recycling system to turn used plant bottles back into another generation of the product, extending the active life of the material before it is composted back into the earth.

According to For The Better Good founder Jayden Klinac, the bottles are made from plants, including corn, potatoes and cellulose, as opposed to oil, and will break down in a commercial compost facility in 90 to 180 days.

Even better, you can reuse the bottle as many times as you like before you compost it. "The great thing about plastic from plants is that it is natural and non-toxic so you can safely reuse it as many times as you like. If it is kept in the correct conditions, it will last until you decide to have it composted," Jayden said.

Originally from Wellington, Jayden is now based in Arrowtown, as he found city life “more of a distraction than an asset". At university, he did a double major in Marketing and Design, and had his first eureka moment around plastic while using a flatmates Nespresso coffee machine. "What stuck out to me was that every time someone wanted a coffee, the chance of one more of these little pods entering our environment arose. There are millions of people using these every day," he said. This led to Jayden founding his first company, which distributed biodegradable coffee capsules. "I started to see other products everywhere that could be replaced with plant-based compostable alternatives and wanted to target the pinnacle of plastic waste, single-use water bottles."

Jayden said that one million bottles are sold around the world every minute and more than eight million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in our ocean every year. Plastic production currently uses more oil than the entire aviation sector.

The Plant Bottle, he said, gives people the choice to buy water on the go with a reduced impact on the environment. The bottles will be launched at the TUKI festival on February 10, where festival-goers will ideally purchase one bottle and refill it at our water stations throughout the day. Assistant director Martine Harding said the Plant Bottle concept totally “reflects Lake Wanaka SouNZ ethos for TUKI festival, and past for Rippon Festivals. The one-use plastic model is old news, we need to act on a sustainable future for festivals and beyond."

The company is a social enterprise, and proceeds from each bottle sold will not only support further bottle and system developments, but will also contribute to clean water initiatives in New Zealand and abroad.

TUKI festival (formerly known as Rippon) kicks off on Saturday February 10, at Glendhu Bay, Lake Wanaka.

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