Written by There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, right? The world has been privy to much advancement thanks to the energy surrounding opposing companies after the same discovery. Never fear, competition is alive and well, as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are both bent on bringing the dream of green bottles made from plant materials to fruition!
The New York Times recently ran a story, “The Race to Greener Bottles Could Be Long,” by William Neuman. Neuman’s piece explained the current atmosphere within beverage companies, particularly that of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and their respective efforts to be the first company to create and implement a line of 100% green, plant material bottles. It’s a lofty and exciting goal, but don’t expect to see these bottles on store shelves anytime soon.
Plastic bottles may appear simple or elementary to some people, but just ask a chemist and he or she will let you know they are lot more complicated than they seem. The task of creating plastic bottles from plants, when they have historically always been crafted from petroleum poses quite the predicament. Let’s look at what makes plastic bottles plastic bottles. Then we’ll decide whether a plant can replace missing components.
Most beverage bottles are made from a particular type of plastic, PET. We even stock PET in our warehouses. So, we carry PET and you need PET bottles for your new product line. I think we were meant for each other. And for the trivia geek in you, did you know that PET resin itself is made from a combination of MEG (30%) and PTA (70%), plastic-making materials? Cool, huh?
Bottles of tomorrow. In 2009, Coca-Cola started packaging their Dasani products in bottles made from up to 30% of plant material, sugarcane to be exact. The company set a goal at that time to have all Coca-Cola plastic bottles meet the 30% plant material minimum by 2020. Does 30% seem like a peculiar percentage to you yet? As you may have guessed, the 30% of plant material in Dasani bottles replaced the MEG factor that is typically found in PET. The plant equivalent of PTA has also been produced in lab facilities, but is not expected to transition into mass production quite as smoothly as the sugar cane-based MEG. If you were able to read through all the percentages and acronyms you likely understand that producing plant bottles is a tedious task.
Neuman explains that the production of green plastic bottles is said to be more eco-friendly than run-of-the-mill oil-based products, given that it doesn’t cause as many greenhouse gases. If that’s not a big enough selling point ongoing research also demonstrates that plant waste may serve as better material for creating plastic bottles over plants cultivated to be used for producing bottles.
We don’t have the formula for green bottles figured out just yet. But PepsiCo has plans to take care of that later this year. The company is planning a production run-through, shooting to manufacture 200,000 green bottles. The success or failure of this experiment will speak volumes regarding the cost and manufacturing functionality of green bottles.
What’s that old adage? Ah, yes, “all good things come to those that wait”. This statement couldn’t be truer for this scenario. 100% plant bottles may not be available to consumers at this juncture in time, but research, a competitive spirit and passion will keep the flame alive until the bottles finally make their big debut.
Will eco-friendly plastic bottles make their debut on shelves soon? Read Kayla Holman’s article and get the details on plant bottles.
