Have you ever noticed some caps of bottle water are smaller than others? I use to feel is not very convenient to open. However, the smaller bottle cap (eco-bottle) is actually a energy saving approach.
some water brands like Poland Spring, Arrowhead, and Deer Park manufactures about 20 billion plastic bottle each year. Those plastic bottles take 55% of those companies footprint.
The picture shows a Poland Spring half-liter bottle from 2005 and 2012. The capacity of the bottle is getting bigger, while the weight is getting much lighter. The cap of the bottle contains the majority of plastic from the entire bottle because it needs much denser plastic. The revolution of plastic bottles is that the 2005 bottle consume 14.6 grams of resin but the 2012 bottle uses only 9.2 grams of resin.
This is a (14.6 – 9.2) ÷ 14.6 = ~ 40% of resin saving
The changes is that they used to need 600 million pounds of resin yeah year but now reduced to 400 million pounds of resin. The new bottle is 40% lighter than it used to be. This small change made in plastic bottle producing leads less energy waste and footprint.
All those plastic bottles are 100% recyclable. The lighter bottles are also easier to crush (take less space) and easy to carry for recycling.
Also, the research shows by reducing the bottle weight, the cost and carbon emission produced by transporting also get down. 600,000 truck shipments are saved each year from transporting empty bottles.
Very interesting post! I think the picture you used in your post pretty much sums up your entire post. I buy mostly Aquafina bottled water, and I think they are also using the eco shape bottle.