Nestle PET bottle garners CT quality prize

Nestle Waters North America in Greenwich, bottler of Poland Spring, Perrier and other soft beverages, has won Connecticut's top quality award for its redesigned eco-friendly plastic water bottle.

The domestic arm of the European food-beverage giant received the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) for its lightweight, recyclable Eco-Shape brand bottle that uses one-quarter less PET plastic than its previous generation container.

Less plastic not only curbs the environmental impact, but when combined with a smaller paper label, also means less weight and lower transportation costs, Nestle said.

The CQIA is America's first and oldest state-level quality award to advance innovative programs that improve quality, performance and marketplace competitiveness.

It uses the same quality criteria as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, named for the former CEO of former Scovill Brass in Waterbury. Baldrige also was commerce secretary under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 until his death in 1987.

Nestle Waters and other CQIA recipients will be honored Oct. 29 at Water's Edge Resort and Conference Center in Westbrook