I was on the train this weekend when I discovered something interesting about one of my favorite on-the-go #beverages from Sweden’s 🇸🇪 Vitamin Well Group. Or rather, something interesting about the bottle. Unlike the standard twist-and-remove bottle cap, this cap remained connected to the bottle. It wouldn’t come off, even when the bottle was opened. Curious as to why, I went to the Vitamin Well website and discovered that, beginning in 2024, the design is part of a new EU #sustainability mandate. This bottle was 100% PET (versus HDPE) and the ingenious cap design was intended to ensure the cap remained with the bottle and didn’t get discarded into the environment. Designing for sustainability is something that’s really underappreciated (and underutilized). Can it be reused or repaired? Can it be recycled? It’s especially frustrating in the home, when different materials are combined in one product, making it very hard to #recycle. It’s increasingly important for #productdesigners to consider the full lifespan of products and make conscious choices to minimize waste and combine materials thoughtfully to increase their ability to be recycled, repaired, and/or reused. In this case, I’m thrilled to find one of my favorites meeting the new guidelines ahead of schedule. #sustainability #recycling #productdesign #industrialdesign #environment
Swedish, not Swiss brand
Joshua Steiner I have a similar problem with the humble tube of mastic sealant. The tube has a stub threaded nozzle which in turn needs to be cut open leaving a pea sized sliver of plastic, then a secondary nozzle is screwed into the stub thread. This too has to have the end removed and a cap is then fixed. All told up to up to 5 separate pieces of plastic all of which will be contaminated with whatever type of sealant, glue, etc in contained within the tube. Multiply that by many millions of tubes and very quickly a humble one time use tube creates 5 different waste items.
Vitamin Well Group is one of the best with their caps. Unfortunately not every company solved this problem as good. Making it annoying for the customer to enjoy their drink..
Intriguing discovery! It's heartening to see Vitamin Well Group's proactive approach to the EU's sustainability mandate. Your insights, Joshua Steiner, echo my thoughts on the importance of thoughtful design for product longevity and environmental impact. This is a commendable step towards a sustainable future. Let's hope more companies follow suit.
Speaking of lids. If this is made from the same material as the bottle, there is no problem with recycling. However, this is often not the case and is recycled thermally
Should have known. Worked for Vitamin Well for 6 years. All PET bottles are like that in DK now 🙏🏻
"The details are not the details. They make the design." Charles Eames Designing with a sustainability lens.
Group CEO bei Trivarga AG
5modear joshua i am the ceo of trivarga, the distribution company of vitamin well in switzerland - and as such, i highly appreciate your post! unfortunately, switzerland is among the very few countries in europe that have decided NOT to implement the respective ec regulation on plastic waste reduction for which most of the brands here refrain from adopting there packaging to tethered caps. this is enormously sad - every step counts! so far, vitamin well is the only brand that goes beyond. we are proud to make that comitment.