US-based Enso Bottles is bringing more green to the bottling industry than just the bottles themselves. The company, started about two years ago with biodegradable plastic bottles, is working on more environmentally friendly packaging elements for the industry.
Enso Bottles founder Danny Clark stated that they are expecting to have the entire packaging, from the label and cap to the shrink wrap, all to be biodegradable in the next two months. As a part of going green Enso is working with an unnamed partner on a formula to produce bottles that can break down in landfills or be recycled like other plastic bottles. It has also secured contracts with several small niche bottlers, including Project 7 in Texas, Melwood Springs in Georgia and Aquamantra in California, as reported by Phoenix Business Journal. The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that about 28 billion bottles and jars are thrown away in the US each year. The industry has been executing different methods to become more environmentally friendly. Enso contracts with Resilux America in Atlanta to make its bottles, or ships what are known as ‘blanks’ to manufacturers near its customers. The blanks contain the plastic, and the manufacturers use them to form the bottles with help from Enso. The idea is to be more environmentally friendly and move the manufacturing closer to the end-user, which cuts shipping costs.