The environmental benefits of Pouchlink™ can be categorized into 4 main areas:

Packaging

A pouch weighs around 9gms compared to a PET bottle which weighs up to 35gms and a 330ml glass bottle, which weighs around 220gms. That means around 75% less material is used to produce a pouch than a standard PET bottle.

Distribution

4 spools of pouches (1000 individual pouches) combined with 6 x 5 ltr bag in box (up to 1200 individual drink portions) weighs approximately 37kgs. By comparison, 1000 ready to drink cans weighs around 380kgs. This is due to the fact that 95% of the ready to drink product transported is water and with Pouchlink™, water is provided via the mains supply. In addition to weight, the weight of tightly spooled, flexible, linked pouches is around 85% less than the area mass of traditional ready-to-drink (RTD) packaging.

Cooling

The Pouchlink™ machine has a small, aluminium block, refrigeration unit that is cooling about 1 litre of water at any given time. Chilling mains water on demand is inherently more efficient than chilling a large, open, cabinet full of RTD products. When compared to a glass fronted vending machine (GFV), Pouchlink™ is around 5 times more energy efficient and uses around 20% of the energy consumed by a GFV.

Post Consumption

Made from PET and PE, the flexible pouch is fully recyclable. However, the reality in the UK is that there is a low uptake of closed or opens loop PET recycling in the UK. Therefore, the majority of PET containers end up in landfill and the flexible pouch, with its small footprint, uses around 15% of the space of a PET bottle. Going forward it will be possible to make flexible pouches from 100% recycled materials if required.