As part of its mission to reduce its environmental impact, supplement company NOW has begun the transition of its bottles to 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin. The transition will start with all products currently packaged in white bottles, with sports nutrition, pet supplements, and personal care lines to follow.
 
“This has been a long learning process for us, but an investment that we feel is very important as it supports our sustainability efforts,” said Kim Perkins, vitamin brand manager. “We reviewed multiple options in this process from glass and aluminum to HDPE, because we wanted to maintain our quality standards while also reducing the impact on cost. PCR allows us to re-use recycled packaging materials and lighten our footprint on the earth. We have also joined the Association for Plastic Recyclers specifically to stay up to date on new recycling initiatives to continue to reduce our waste in the future.”
 
Based on its bottle production in 2022, the company estimates over 3 million pounds of plastic will be diverted for use in PCR bottles used by the company in the first year. This number will grow as more items in the NOW catalog are switched to the new packaging. There may be slight color variations in the bottles, which is normal for recycled materials.
 
NOW performed quality testing and a leaching study prior to making the change, taking two years to ensure the new bottle quality wouldn’t be inferior or cause quality issues. Those tests included:
 
·      Oxygen permeability testing, which measured the ability of the barrier material to allow gases to permeate through it in a specific time. Gas permeability may vary with temperature, humidity, pressure, and packaging thickness.
·      Water vapor permeability testing, which measures the passage of water vapor through product packaging. All packaging materials permeate, but this can be impacted by temperature and humidity. Reducing water vapor permeability is a key aspect to ensuring shelf-life and product quality.
·      A leaching study, which was done using a porous resin designed for trapping volatiles and semi-volatiles to prevent contamination that would be present if an actual product was used. NOW did the leaching into ethanol as well, which acts as a solvent and would cause more leaching than any powdered product.
·      Micro testing, which included total aerobic count as well as yeast and mold.
 
NOW’s tests showed that the PCR bottles performed as well or better than virgin resin PET bottles in each test. “The long road to making this positive change was supported by the strong commitment of NOW management and staff, and we all find it a deeply rewarding accomplishment on our continued sustainability journey,” Perkins said.