Pepsi Bottles Receive "Plastic Surgery"

"The challenge was to deliver significantly lighter packaging that would provide the same shelf life as the heavier bottle, withstand the manufacturing and distribution process yet not compromise aesthetics," says Robert Lewis, vice president of worldwide beverage packaging and equipment development, PepsiCo. "After a full year of hard work from multiple corners of the company, we hit the trifecta -- a bottle that satisfied the needs of our system, our consumers and the environment."

The new bottle will be launched in one of the beverage industry's fastest growing segments through established trademarks of Lipton Iced Tea, Tropicana juice drinks, Aquafina FlavorSplash and Aquafina Alive. It will be available in 12-packs and 24-packs. In addition to a 20 percent reduction in the plastic resin, there will be a 10 percent reduction in the label size and a 5 percent reduction in the shrink wrap film used to wrap the multi-packs.

"As a company, we've challenged ourselves to consistently identify ways to lessen our impact on the environment and in this case we're doing a little 'plastic surgery,'" adds Lewis. "We're constantly striving to make our packaging an even smaller part of the waste stream and this new bottle is just one of many examples."