Unify the plastic bottles of Classic, Blue and Viva. That’s the decision taken by Sources Rosport, “in the interests of both the environment and reducing our costs,” explained company director on Thursday 19 September. “Previously, 18 lorries would make the weekly journey to bring us empty plastic bottles, which we would then fill with our own water. Now, thanks to our new bottle blow-moulding machine, only one lorry a week delivers the preforms for the Pet bottles.” And the new 100% recyclable recycled plastic bottles appeared on supermarket shelves a few weeks ago.
The investment for this new production line “is in the region of €2m.” In concrete terms, the preforms are a kind of small test tube, which are heated to 130 degrees by the new bottle blow moulder to make them malleable, then injected with 35 bars of power to achieve the desired shape--in 50-centilitre, one-litre or 1.5-litre formats--and the bottles are then filled with either still or sparkling water from the company’s two sources, then resealed with a new attached cap--which complies with the European directive requiring an attached cap for all drinks. It was a project also supported by .
“We’ve always not exported our products abroad, and with this new single-bottle project, we wanted to take another step towards a more circular alternative. The plastic used for our bottles is made from Pet, the preforms are produced in Bascharage, the caps from a factory in Wiltz, the labels come from Fridhaff and the cardboard boxes and pallet inserts are made in Lintgen,” continues Weber.
30.5% market share
Viva water now accounts for 60% of Sources Rosport’s sales. And while the trend in 2005 was selling 20.1% plastic bottles and 79.9% glass bottles, “now we’re more like 51% glass and 49% Pet plastic.” The company employs 28 people, a figure that is currently stable, and produces €29.8m worth of water bottles every year. “This figure is down slightly, by 6 to 7%, compared with ‘normal’ pre-covid years,” explains Weber.
Every two years, TNS Ilres carries out a study into the water consumption of the country’s residents. “The most recent one in 2023, we had a total market share of 30.5%, with 25.6% market share in the home, and 48.8% market share in restaurants.” Also asked about the issue of microplastics, which is at the heart of several European studies, the company director said that “food safety officers come regularly to take samples and we are below the recommended thresholds.”
This article was originally published in .