Mentos Pure Fresh Gum paper bottle

Gum manufacturer Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) has made its packaging more sustainable by developing a paper bottle for Mentos Pure Fresh Gum. 

This is the first paper bottle in the confectionery industry, according to PVM, and reduces the plastic in Mentos Gum packaging by 93% (IRI). The new bottle (rrp £2.40) is made from paperboard, which is 90% paper, and will launch in around 600 Co-op food stores this month, across the full Mentos Pure Fresh flavour range of Cherry, Tropical and Fresh Mint. The launch will be supported by a nationwide out of home campaign printed on FSC certified materials. Sales will be further boosted with the help of a Blis Geo targeting campaign that identifies consumers in proximity to stores which stock the paper bottles.

The gum category is worth £281m and +15% vs LY. Mentos Pure Fresh Gum is outperforming the category +27%, according to Unify data

Kim McMahon, product manager of Mentos Gum, said: “We are extremely excited to be announcing the launch of the new Mentos Gum paper bottle. Perfetti Van Melle are continuously innovating, and to be the first in the gum industry to have a paper bottle is a step which we are extremely proud of.

“Sustainability is a key business focus for Perfetti Van Melle, and we have robust goals to meet in our own Reduce, Recycle, Recover program, which aims to deliver against meaningful measures to reduce plastics in our packaging. The Mentos Gum Paper Bottle is launched hot on the heels of our recent switch to paper sticks in the original lollipop, our beloved Chupa Chups brand – a step that will eliminate around 5k metric tons p.a. of plastic globally over the next three years.”