‘Herbal’ Plastic: The PlantBottle - The future for beverages
Last updated 21/05/2009 15:17:26
The PlantBottle - The future for beverages
You're thirsty. You go to the shop (or bar). Select your drink. You consume. And you hopefully dispose the bottle responsibly. Have you thought what happens next ...With the bottle, that is!
Well, the Coco-Cola Company has, it will introduce a fully recyclable new bottle made partially from plants. The PlantBottle™ has a lower reliance on a non-renewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions, compared with petroleum-based PET plastic bottles.
The soft drinks company's Chairman and CEO, Muhtar Kent, has described the PlantBottle™ as "significant development in sustainable packaging innovation ... [that will] eventually introduce bottles made with materials that are 100 percent recyclable and renewable".
Traditional PET bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. The new bottle is made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% plant-based materials reducing carbon emissions by up to 25%, compared with petroleum-based PET.
The PlantBottle™ is currently made through an innovative process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic. Coca-Cola is also exploring the use of other plant materials for future generations of the PlantBottle™.
Also the PlantBottle™ unlike other plant-based plastics, can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling facilities without contaminating traditional PET – making the bottle re-recyclable.
Coca-Cola North America will pilot the PlantBottle™ with Dasani and sparkling brands in select markets later this year and with vitamin-water in 2010. The bottles will be identified through on-package messages and in-store point of sale displays. Web-based communications will also highlight the bottles' environmental benefits.
It has put resources behind creating packaging that is recyclable and investing in recycling infrastructure to ensure that its packages are collected, recycled and re-used. Earlier this year, the Company opened the world's largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. The plant will produce approximately 100 million pounds of recycled PET plastic for reuse each year -- the equivalent of nearly 2 billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles.
These efforts are all focused on helping "close the loop" on packaging use and produce truly sustainable packages for consumers.