In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint and combat reliance on single-use plastic packaging, The Coca-Cola Company announced this week that most DASANI products will transition to 100% rPET bottles, while Sprite will swap out its signature green PET bottles for clear ones.
This summer, DASANI will roll out 100% recycled PET plastic bottles (excluding caps and labels) in 20 oz. and 1.5-liter singles and 10 oz. and 12 oz. multipack formats in the United States. In Canada, all DASANI products will adopt rPET bottles. The brand first debuted 100% recycled plastic bottles in New York, California and Texas in 2021.
Meanwhile, the venerable Sprite brand, long known for its green bottle, will transition all of its plastic PET packaging from its signature green color to clear, beginning August 1.
According to the press release, although green PET is recyclable, it is often only converted into single-use items such as clothing and carpeting and cannot be remade into new PET bottles. Switching to clear plastic will enable Sprite bottles to be recycled into a multitude of items, including new bottles.
“Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, in the release. “This transition will help increase availability of food-grade rPET. When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”
The transition to 100% recycled plastic is projected to save over 20 million pounds of plastic compared to 2019 and to cut over 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a press release. As demand for rPET currently exceeds supply, the company is working to build up a sustainable pipeline of high-quality material “by working with communities to boost PET recycling and collection; collaborating with recycling partners; and securing rPET to ensure the material for [its] bottles is used again and again,” Chris Valette, senior vice president of technical innovation and stewardship at Coca-Cola North America, said in a press release.
The new rPET bottle rollout is not DASANI’s first sustainable packaging innovation. Over the past decade, the brand has unveiled a multitude of packaging breakthroughs, including PlantBottle; HybdridBottle fusing RPET, PlantBottle material and virgin PET; aluminum cans and bottles, DASANI PureFill package-less product dispensers; and bottle caps made from recycled HDPE plastic.
“We saw how much the 100% recycled PET message truly resonates with our customers and consumers, particularly DASANI fans whose sustainability expectations are especially high,” said Vallette.
The Coca-Cola Company’s boost in sustainable packaging efforts comes at a time when consumer demand for recyclable packaging is at an all-time high. According to the United Nations, plastic pollution rose from two million tons in 1950 to 348 million tons in 2017 and is projected to double in capacity by 2040. A recent survey from the Carton Council of North America revealed 94% of consumers are supportive of recycling and 74% believe recycling is important and should be made a priority. Additionally, 61% of respondents said they always recycle CPG food and beverage containers, up from 50% in the previous survey.
Coca-Cola is not the only beverage giant to embrace heightened sustainability efforts in recent years. This month, PepsiCo Beverages North America announced plans to construct a 1.2 Million Sq. Ft. manufacturing facility in Colorado, it’s “most sustainable domestic outpost” yet. As part of its pep+ initiative the new plant will work to achieve 100% renewable electricity, water efficiency (1.2 gal/gal) and reduced virgin plastic use; PepsiCo hopes to cut virgin plastic from non-renewable sources across its portfolios by 50% by 2030.
Looking ahead, Coca-Cola North America plans to transition its entire green plastic portfolio – including Fresca, Seagram’s and Mello Yello – to clear PET in the coming months.