Coca-Cola Piloting Plant-Based Bottle Prototype
The Coca-Cola Company is advancing its sustainability goals through a new packaging innovation prototype.
It’s developed a bottle that’s made from 100% plant-based plastic (bPET), minus the cap and label. The prototype was produced using technologies that are now ready to be commercially scaled across the industry, according to the company, which noted that the recyclable and can be recycled bottle-to-bottle within existing recycling infrastructures.
The bottle was created as part of a partnership with several bio-based technology providers, including Changchun Meihe and Virent. About 900 of them have been produced in a limited run.
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“We are taking significant steps to reduce use of virgin oil-based plastic as we work toward a shared ambition of zero net carbon emissions by 2050,” said Nancy Quan, Coca-Cola Company chief technical and innovation officer, in a statement. “For a long time, we have been working with partners to develop the right technologies to achieve 100% plant-based content, aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint. It’s exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist and can be scaled by participants in the value chain.”
The No. 12 consumer goods company’s sustainability goals include using 3 million tons less virgin plastic from oil-based sources and having 100% of its packaging be recyclable by 2025; having 50% of its packaging come from recycled material by 2030; and being net-zero carbon by 2050.
In Europe and Japan, Coca-Cola intends to eliminate the use of oil-based virgin PET from plastic bottles altogether by 2030 with its bottling partners, using only recycled or renewable materials.
