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Coca-Cola Unveils 100% Plant-Based PET Bottle, Ready to Scale

Using two breakthrough technologies, The Coca-Cola Company has found two paths to a 100% bio-based bottle, one that uses sugar from corn, and another that uses forestry waste.

The Coca Cola Company has introduced its first-ever beverage bottle made from 100% plant-based plastic, excluding the cap and label, with a limited run of approximately 900 of the prototype bottles.
The Coca Cola Company has introduced its first-ever beverage bottle made from 100% plant-based plastic, excluding the cap and label, with a limited run of approximately 900 of the prototype bottles.

The Coca‑Cola Company’s sustainable packaging journey has crossed a major milestone this week with the unveiling of its first-ever beverage bottle made from 100% plant-based plastic, excluding the cap and label, that has been made using technologies that are ready for commercial scale. The prototype bottle comes more than a decade after the company’s PlantBottle debuted as the world’s first recyclable PET plastic bottle made with up to 30% plant-based material. A limited run of approximately 900 of the prototype bottles have been produced.

“We have been working with technology partners for many years to develop the right technologies to create a bottle with 100% plant-based content—aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint—and it’s exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist and can be scaled by participants in the value chain,” says Nancy Quan, Chief Technical and Innovation Officer, The Coca‑Cola Company.

PET comprises two molecules: approximately 30% monoethylene glycol (MEG) and 70% terephthalic acid (PTA). The original PlantBottle, introduced in 2009, includes MEG from sugarcane, but the PTA has been from oil-based sources until now. Says Coca-Cola, PlantBottle packaging looks, functions, and recycles like traditional PET but has a lighter footprint on the planet and its resources.


Read article   Read this story on how Coca-Cola is transitioning its brands to 100% rPET.


The company’s new prototype plant-based bottle is made from plant-based paraxylene (bPX)— using a new process by Virent—that has been converted to plant-based terephthalic acid (bPTA). Says Coca-Cola, as the first beverage packaging material resulting from bPX produced at demonstration scale, this new technology signals a step-change in the commercial viability of the biomaterial. The bPX for this bottle was produced using sugar from corn, though the process lends itself to flexibility in feedstock.

The second breakthrough technology, which The Coca-Cola Company co-owns with Changchun Meihe Science & Technology, streamlines the bMEG production process and also allows for flexibility in feedstock, meaning more types of renewable materials can be used. Typically, bMEG is produced by converting sugarcane or corn into bioethanol as an intermediate, which is subsequently converted to bioethylene glycol. Now, sugar sources can directly produce MEG, resulting in a simpler process.

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