Coca-Cola Company, in collaboration with Changchun Meihe Science & Technology and UPM, introduced its first 100% plant-based plastic soft drink bottle, excluding the cap and label.
The companies used a new technology, developed by plant-based plastics company Virent, to create PlantBottle, which is made from vegetable paraxylene (bPX), using corn sugar. Initially, a limited number of approximately 900 original bottles were manufactured.
Aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint, Coca-Cola Chief Technology Officer Nancy Quan said: “We have been working with technology partners for many years to develop the right technologies to create a bottle with 100% plant content – aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint – and it is exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist.” .
The original bottle comes 12 years after Coca-Cola first introduced the PlantBottle, the first recyclable plastic PET bottle made from about 30% cane monoethylene glycol (MEG) and 70% terephthalic acid (PTA), which comes from oil-based sources.