At first glance, “biodegradable” water bottles may seem like the obvious eco-friendly upgrade. But dig deeper, and the story shifts. In SA, where infrastructure and real-world conditions matter, the most sustainable choice for bottled water packaging is still the one many already trust: recyclable PET. While new materials claim green credentials, they often fail to deliver in practice, adding confusion, cost and contamination to an otherwise effective recycling system. For businesses committed to real environmental impact, understanding the difference between what sounds green and what works is critical.
In SA, PET plastic bottles have a well-established recycling value chain that delivers real environmental benefits. In 2023, the PET Recycling Company (Petco) achieved a 64% collection rate and a 60% recycling rate for PET beverage bottles, surpassing the government’s 58% target.
This robust recycling effort translated into tangible gains. By replacing virgin plastic with recycled PET, Petco’s initiatives saved an estimated 64 100 m³ of landfill space and cut about 314 500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions last year. Recycled PET (rPET) is in high demand for new bottles, textiles and packaging, giving used bottles a real economic value. Recyclers were able to purchase R309 million worth of post-consumer packaging from collectors in 2023, sustaining thousands of income opportunities for waste pickers and small businesses.
This thriving circular economy for PET exists because the material is 100% recyclable and is actively recovered at scale. Every PET bottle collected and recycled means less waste in landfills or the environment, and more raw material conserved for reuse.
The Hidden Pitfalls of “Biodegradable” Bottles
So-called “biodegradable” or “compostable” plastic water bottles are appearing as supposedly eco-friendly alternatives. The facts, however, show these alternatives are ill-suited to the SA context. Biodegradable and compostable bottles cannot be reused or conventionally recycled in SA; there are no dedicated facilities to process them and they only decompose under specific industrial composting conditions (sustained 60°C heat for 10 days), which are nothing like normal compost heaps or the natural environment. These materials simply do not degrade as advertised and will end up persisting in landfills.
Even when they do break down, the outcomes are not as “green” as imagined. Biodegradable plastics fragment into microplastics, not harmless soil nutrients. As they decompose they release carbon dioxide (CO₂), contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. What is the environmental gain of a bottle that simply turns into microplastic dust and CO₂? Choosing these materials can exacerbate the very problems they purport to solve.
Biodegradable bottles can also undermine the existing recycling system. If disposed of incorrectly, a compostable plastic bottle that gets mixed into the PET recycling stream can contaminate the entire batch, causing otherwise recyclable plastics to be sent to landfill – a single “eco-friendly” bottle tossed in the recycling bin can spoil hundreds of true PET recyclables. This represents a financial loss to recyclers and collectors who earn income from recovered materials.
Disrupting Recycling and Legal Compliance
South Africa’s packaging industry has built effective infrastructure around recycling. Besides Petco for PET bottles, there are organisations that cover all plastic packaging types to ensure collection and recycling under the country’s Extended Producer Responsibility laws. It is mandatory for producers of packaging to register with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) and join an approved producer responsibility scheme.
PET bottlers – like SANBWA members Aquabella, AquaMonte, aQuellé, Bené, Bonaqua, Designer Water, La Vie De Luc, Thirsti and Valpré – all comply by paying into Petco’s programmes, taking responsibility for their bottles’ end-of-life and meeting government targets. They also design for recycling principals to ensure their packaging can be recycled. This framework is a key reason PET recycling rates are so high in South Africa.
By contrast, it’s unclear where compostable bottle producers fit into this system. There is currently no established collection or processing network for biodegradable plastics. Are “green” PLA bottlers financially contributing to local waste management as the law requires? If not, they are sidestepping the regulations designed to curb pollution. Even when well-intentioned companies do register, the lack of infrastructure means their bottles are ultimately treated as ordinary refuse, undermining the spirit of extended producer responsibility.
There’s also the matter of truth in labelling. The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has introduced a national standard that sets requirements for the marking and identification of degradable plastics. This standard is meant to ensure that any product marketed as “biodegradable” or “compostable” is properly tested and labelled with its disposal conditions.
Yet, no products in South Africa had been certified compliant by 2023. In practice, that means many “biodegradable” claims on packaging are unverified – a warning sign for potential greenwashing.
Regulators have cautioned against vague eco-claims: if a bottle isn’t certified, consumers and retailers have no guarantee it will do what it promises. Such bottles should clearly display that they cannot be recycled and should only be composted in specialized facilities (if available). Not all current labels make this obvious, leading well-meaning buyers to mistakenly throw these bottles into recycling or general waste streams where they don’t belong.
Conclusion: A circular path forward
For South African retailers, hotels and restaurants seeking to make environmentally responsible choices, the evidence favours PET water bottles coupled with robust recycling, over biodegradable plastics that don’t biodegrade in reality. SANBWA advocates for solutions that are fact-based and locally viable. For now that means leveraging PET’s recyclability and the successful collection network we have, rather than switching to alternative bottles that end up as single-use waste.
Each PET bottle recycled in SA is part of a closed-loop system that reduces litter, creates jobs and lowers emissions. Compostable bottles in our conditions are just another single-use item – the very outcome critics accuse plastic of, but without the redeeming second life that recycling provides.
Genuine sustainability in packaging comes from circular economy principles. We must ask tough questions of any new product: Can our infrastructure handle it? Is it truly better when considering its full lifecycle? In the case of biodegradable water bottles, the current answer is a resounding no.
We urge our partners in the hospitality and retail sectors to join us by sticking to recyclable PET and rejecting misleading “quick fixes”. It’s about what truly is green in the SA context and that means keeping PET in the loop rather than sending “compostable” ones to the dump.
