Coke's New Bottle Going Green

The label of a new Coca-Cola bottle that is partly derived from sugar cane even though it feels and functions like a regular plastic soda bottle.

Some of the key points that I quoted from the article at wsj.

Coca-Cola Co., under fire from environmentalists for using plastic bottles, has introduced a new packaging material made partly from plants. The container has "the same weight, the same feel, the same chemistry, and functions exactly the same way"...

... Coke Chairman and Chief Executive Muhtar Kent calls the new container, which uses material derived from sugar cane, "the first generation of the bottle of the future."...

... The new plant-based bottle developed by Coke is composed of 70% petroleum-based and 30% sugar-cane-based materials...


... Environmental groups say the Coke bottle now being introduced is a slight improvement over regular PET bottles, but they say it won't solve a bigger problem with plastic bottles: the fact that most consumers don't recycle them...

... Indeed, Coca-Cola has created a 100% plant-based bottle in its labs, Coke's Mr. Vitters says. "We're just trying to figure out how to make it in a way that's commercially viable."

Glad to see initiatives are taken to reduce the consumption of plastics. But still, until the 100% plant-based bottle being used, this 70%-petroleum new bottle doesn't add much in solving the problem of high petroleum/plastics consumption around the globe.

This reminds me of a video, by Capt. Charles Moore, that I watch at ted.com. The 3:23 minute of the video shows the stomach of bird completely filled with bottle caps and other plastics pollutants. :(





More efforts need to be done in terms of educating the next generation on the conservation of environment.