V8 is making it easier to recycle millions of beverage containers. Thanks to the dedication of our packaging and operations teams, we have made a seemingly simple change to our labels to make the containers easier to recycle.

The challenge
While V8 bottles have always been easy to recycle, the shrink sleeve labels around them are not. This is a common challenge because rigid plastics, like bottles, are easier to recycle than flexible plastics, like labels.

This becomes even more challenging when a shrink sleeve label covers the full bottle. Current recycling technology cannot always sort bottles that use a full-coverage shrink sleeve label.

This meant that prior to this label change, consumers needed to remove the outer label before they put the plastic bottle in their recycling bins.

The solution: Wrap labels
To overcome this challenge, we changed our labels on V8 Fusion and V8 Blends multi-serve bottles. Instead of shrink sleeve labels we now use wrap labels – and they only cover part of the bottle. Recycling technology can now easily sort the bottles. Plus, wrap labels can easily be removed in the municipal recycling process.

This means that you no longer need to remove the labels before you place the bottle in your recycling bins.

Because of this change to wrap labels, tens of millions of bottles can now be fully recycled with ease by our consumers. The newly designed packaging hit store shelves late last year. Across our brands, we’re continuing to work to make our packaging more sustainable.

New sustainable packaging goals
In May, we announced new company-wide goals to reduce packaging waste. Our approach aims to reduce packaging waste through investment in recyclability, use of recycled content, and consumer education and infrastructure. Learn about our packaging goals and additional progress we’ve made on reducing waste and encouraging recycling.

By: Megan Maltenfort, Director, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability