Coca-Cola sold at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC, will feature bottles that are composed 30 percent of sugar-based feedstocks. The new “plantbottles” began to appear on store shelves in Europe last November, and no one should be able to tell the difference in the new bottle. Coke officials say they have the same chemistry and the same feel as bottles made entirely from polyethylene terepthalate (PET).The bottle is not biodegradable, and it represents the new goal of many sustainable plastics applications-reduced carbon footprint. A third-party company hired by Coke affirms that the new bottle reduces the carbon footprint by 12 to 19 percent compared to a bottle made entirely of petroleum feedstocks.
The plant bottle feedstock comes from sugar cane in Brazil that is crushed to produce juice, which is then fermented and distilled. Ethanol produced from that process then goes through a series of chemical processes and is converted to a monoethylene glycol. That’s the same chemical usually derived from petroleum to produce PET for use in plastic bottles. The sugar-derived glycol is subsequently mixed with terephthalic acid to create plastic. Dow Plastics also will use Brazilian sugar cane as a plastics-making feedstock.
Coke wants to produce a bottle completely made of the sugar-based plastic that remains totally recyclable. For now, the goal is to produce two billion plant bottles by the end of this year. Another goal is to use a non food feedstock in the future.
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