Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems converts its bottled vitamin line to sustainable EcoGuard bottles

Jan 21 2010

Rainbow Light® Nutritional Systems, a leader in natural nutrition for over 25 years, is converting its entire bottled vitamin line to sustainable EcoGuard(TM) bottles. The first in the industry to be made from 100 percent recycled plastic, the innovative EcoGuard bottles are 100 percent recyclable. With annual sales of more than $60 million, Rainbow Light's conversion to EcoGuard packaging will keep more than 6 million plastic bottles from ending up in oceans, natural habitats and landfills each year – approximately equivalent to the length of 1,800 Empire State Buildings laid end-to-end.

"For more than 25 years, Rainbow Light has been committed to sustainable, green business practices," said Linda Kahler, president of Rainbow Light. "We're taking a strong leadership position in reducing the vitamin industry's environmental footprint."  

Nearly 30 million tons of virgin (non-recycled) plastic are generated annually, requiring more than 1.5 million barrels of oil for production. Of this vast amount, less than 2 million tons of plastic are recovered for recycling. Furthermore, only a small amount of the plastic that is recovered for recycling is actually reused due to low demand for it. Factor in that every hour, Americans throw away 2.7 million plastic bottles, and the case for reusing plastics is clear. Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space. Reusing plastics that have already been manufactured is one very important way of decreasing plastic debris found in landfills, and worse, oceans and natural habitats. Ninety percent of ocean debris is plastic.

"There is a huge proliferation of plastic debris in our oceans," said Mary Crowley, co-founder of Project Kaisei, a global non-profit committed to environmental, green education and prevention of marine debris. "The plastics over time break down into confetti-like particles which are ingested by sea life thus causing damage and making their way into our food web. I congratulate Rainbow Light for taking the lead in the vitamin industry to address this very important issue."

EcoGuard vitamin bottles are FDA-approved for safety, with labels made from renewable plant resources and no adhesives, which can disrupt the recycling process. By reusing plastics, EcoGuard vitamin bottles not only reduce the amount of virgin plastic that is generated, they also keep plastic bottles out of landfills, do not deplete fossil fuels, and make good use of the plastics that have been collected for recycling. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, producing new plastic from recycled materials uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from virgin raw materials.