Currently Evian’s plastic bottles use about 25-percent recycled plastic, according to Fast Company’s Adele Peters. One hurdle has been the process for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which limits recycling the material to three times before quality suffers, Reuters’ Dominique Vidalon noted.

Loop Technologies, based near Montreal in Terrebonne, Quebec, has developed a technology that the company says decouples plastic from fossil fuels, breaking down waste PET to its base building blocks. Founder and CEO Daniel Solomita told Fast Company that the low-energy process uses minimal heat, pressure, and a proprietary catalyst to depolymerize waste plastic into components for making virgin plastic.

“A bottle made through the process can also be recycled over and over again, using the same process, without degrading in quality,” Peters wrote. In addition to teaming up with Loop Technologies, Evian is working with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to help fully close the loop and establish a circular economy.

Evian, the third largest bottled water company in the world, is not alone in pursuing new, ambitious goals around recycling. Earlier this month McDonald’s announced plans to source all of its packaging from renewable, recycled or certified sustainable sources restaurants by 2025. Also in January, several large European organizations including Plastics Recyclers Europe, Petcore Europe, and the European Carpet and Rug Association said they will recycle 50 percent of their plastics waste by 2040.

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