Debuting its most recent version, the PlantBottle is one of the first products to be made using 100 percent plant-based products, one of them being sugar cane. While the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola giant didn’t exactly say when the new bottles would appear on store shelves, it’s reassuring the public that the new storage containers won’t affect the taste of the beverage, reports the Consumerist.
Unveiled at the food technology conference in Milan, Italy, Coca-Cola is planning to use the new PlantBottle in everything they manufacture by 2020, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Nancy Quan is the global research and development officer of the company, and her outlook was to be ever present with the latest technological changes using plant-based materials.
Coca-Cola has been a leader in the soda industry, distributing approximately 35 billion bottles of its PlantBottle packaging to over 40 countries since it first launched in 2009. When you look at this from an environmental perspective, that means that this form of packaging may have helped save an equivalent annual emissions of over 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to Bizjournals.
Plantbottle containers set out to maintain the high level of packaging consumers expected, but it has an added benefit because it’s being made using sugar cane and sugar cane waste. The bottle can also be used for other products that includes water, juice and tea-based beverages.
Coca-Cola licensed this upgraded form of technology to H.J. Heinz in 2011, so they could use it in their ketchup bottles. The Ford Motor Company said it had plans to use the same types of PlantBottle packaging in the Fusion Energi hybrid sedan’s test model interior fabrics.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a plastic-based resin and one of the most common forms of polyester. Discovered and patented in 1941 in England, it wasn’t until the 1990s that manufacturing companies found a use for PET containers. The National Association for PET Container Resources finds the new bottles appealing to the consumer and manufacturer because of its strength, low weight and method recycle-ability.
However, as with most things, there are some drawbacks to PET. According to a 2004 report, the material can be expensive to package. Because it acts as a type of gas, the shelf life of beverages packed in the container can be limited, causing the soda to go flat quicker than other plastic bottles.
When it comes to recycling quantity and quality of the supplies, there are major concerns. Recycling centers found the PET packing to be challenging to clean than the other plastic containers. Reclaimers also found high levels of contamination in the PET containers.
This means that less of the PET packaging could actually be reused, making the recycling process obsolete. While domestic collection is growing, it’s not enough to meet the actual demand. That’s why it is typically imported from areas such as Latin America, Canada and Mexico.
While the recycling methods of PET may have a long way to go before they are perfected, Coca-Cola’s latest move showcases an important trend as it’s taking a huge step to transform the way large company’s do business in today’s environmentally conscious market place.
Businesses are now making a concerted effort to be more environmentally conscious. Harvard Business Review found that the practice of sustainability was a solid investment for businesses, especially as they are able to yield more returns.
