Coca-Cola Introduces the PlantBottle

Enlarge Image Image Gallery That familiar red label is about to get a little greener. Coca-Cola will begin manufacturing its plastic bottles using up to 30 percent plant-based material. Photo Courtesy flickr.com/photos/tk-link/

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This week Coca-Cola announced that it’s making its plastic bottles a little more eco-friendly – or should we say, its “plant bottles.” Starting with the Dasani water brand, Coca-Cola will begin manufacturing its bottles using up to 30 percent plant-based materials. Coca-Cola will use a process to turn sugar cane and molasses into a key component for PET plastic. Researchers at Imperial College London found that the PlantBottle reduces carbon emissions by 25 percent, as compared with petroleum-based PET, and unlike other plant-based plastics, the PlantBottle can also can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling factories without contaminating the traditional PET.

This move marks an important step for Coca-Cola, one of the leading producers of plastic bottles worldwide. Not only does it make Coca-Cola the first company to introduce a bottle of this kind, this move also falls in line with Coca-Cola’s other efforts to be more environmentally conscious.  In January Coca-Cola opened the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in South Carolina as part of its “Give it Back” recycling effort. The plant will annually produce about 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled PET plastic, or about 20 billion bottles, and will prevent the release of million pounds of CO2 emissions.

The “Give it Back” program, which debuted in January along with the opening of the plant in Spartanbarg, South Carolina, is intended to remind consumers that Coca-Cola’s cans and bottles are valuable recyclables. Coca-Cola has marketed the program through billboards, advertising and online messages, and the company has promoted it on more than 600 college campuses as well as in Times Square on New Years’ Eve and both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. 

More about plastic and bottles

• Recycle that plastic water bottle for good and pick up a trendy reusable water bottle.

• Recycling plastic is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Read Natural Home's guide to plastic recycling.

• Plastics are everywhere, especially in the house. Read these tips on how to pare plastic from your home.