TotalEnergies Corbion has unveiled an embossed, label-free PLA bottle for the South Korean beverage market, designed to integrate into a closed-loop recycling system established with Sansu.
The new bottle uses embossed branding to replace conventional labels, aiming to making the recycling process easier. By integrating brand identification into the bottle wall, TotalEnergies Corbion says the design allows bottles to enter recycling streams without additional processing, supporting cleaner material flows and higher-quality recycled output.
In the recycling system established by the two companies, post-consumer bottles are collected, pre-processed, and chemically recycled via hydrolysis, breaking PLA down into its original building block - lactic acid monomer - which is then reused to produce new recycled Luminy PLA (rPLA) with consistent material performance. Luminy PLA is TotalEnergies Corbion’s biobased plastic designed for recycling and composting.
According to the latest Luminy PLA LCA, virgin PLA achieves a significantly lower carbon footprint compared with conventional plastics, while incorporating recycled PLA enables carbon-neutral and carbon-negative material options, depending on recycled content.
Hao Ding, global marketing director at TotalEnergies Corbion said: “As markets increasingly focus on recyclability, carbon performance, and consumer acceptance, this project demonstrates the potential of PLA-based solutions to meet functional requirements while supporting broader circular economy objectives - without compromising on brand recognition or industrial performance.”
Last year TotalEnergies Corbion launched re-designed bags for its sugarcane-based Luminy PLA, featuring 30% post-industrial recycled (PIR) content in the outer layer, made from repurposing high-quality manufacturing scraps. The new material is said to reduce waste, use of virgin raw materials and reduce emissions across the packaging supply chain.
In other beverage packaging news, Greiner Packaging and Air Up’s ‘leak-proof’, refillable Click Bottle uses scent-based pods to add flavour to plain water without sugar, additives or calories. The body of the bottle is made from Eastman’s copolyester plastic, Tritan, described as a robust, taste-neutral and BPA-free material.
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