Soft drink manufacturing giant Coca-Cola said that it plans to sell its products, including Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite, in eco friendly or greener plastic bottles. The company said that it will be using recycled plastic or PET bottles, which will be made partially from plants and sugarcane waste.
The current bottles from the soft drink provider are made from non-renewable petroleum. However, the new PlantBottle which will be used in China has been created from one of the key ingredients of sugarcane for PET plastic, which is known as ‘mono ethylene glycol’, which has 30 percent of the total composition of PET plastic by weight.
At present, the company is working with its local partners on the usage of cellulose from plants. The officials from the Coca-Cola have said that if the idea works then waste plants can be used as a valuable resource. Waste plants can be found anywhere in the world and are a cheap alternative to non-renewable petroleum.
Huang Xiaoyan, a research fellow, said that the packaging, recycling and the functions will be like the traditional PET plastic. Xiaoyan added, “It is understood that plants are renewable, but petroleum will be exhausted one day.” The new packaging has already started being distributed in supermarkets from the month of March, 2013.
