March 19, 2008 - Independing film studio Lionsgate has unveiled a new DVD case made from 100% recycled materials.

The DVD case, which is fully recyclable, features a disc tray containing plastic recovered from used water bottles. Manufacturing the tray from recycled materials requires less than 10% of the energy required to make a new case, according to Lionsgate.

The new packaging will debut on the DVD for season three of the Showtime series "Weeds," slated to hit stores June 3. In addition, Lionsgate's record label will use green packaging for the "Weeds" soundtrack CD, scheduled for release June 17.

The company will announce other green-packaged DVD titles throughout the year.  "[This release] is just the beginning of Lionsgate's green initiative," according to Lionsgate president Steve Beeks.

Lionsgate is not the first movie studio to experiment with green packaging for its DVD cases. In October, Universal Studios released its DVD of its comedy "Evan Almighty" in a thinner cardboard sleeve that cut down on paper use.