TotalEnergies Corbion and Japanese bottled water company Sansu (I’m Eco) have introduced a label-free water bottle concept made from polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastic, designed to simplify recycling and improve packaging circularity.
The bottle eliminates the conventional plastic or paper label, replacing it with an embossed design directly integrated into the bottle surface. Brand and product information are moulded into the container during manufacturing, removing the need for adhesive labels or additional materials.
According to the companies, labels and adhesives can complicate recycling processes by introducing contamination into material streams. By integrating the branding into the bottle structure itself, the design aims to reduce sorting complexity and enable cleaner recovery of the base material.
The bottle is produced using Luminy PLA, a bio-based polymer derived primarily from renewable feedstocks such as plant sugars. PLA is used in a range of packaging applications including food containers, films and beverage cups, and can be mechanically recycled or chemically recycled depending on available infrastructure.
The project also highlights a closed-loop recycling pathway for PLA packaging. After collection, the material can undergo hydrolysis, a chemical recycling process that breaks PLA down into lactic acid, its original building block. This recovered material can then be used to produce recycled PLA (rPLA) suitable for manufacturing new products.
Label-free packaging formats are increasingly being explored across the beverage industry as companies seek to improve recyclability and reduce packaging complexity. Embossing or moulded-in branding is one approach that allows manufacturers to eliminate additional components while maintaining product identification.