Pepsico announces new green bottle.
100% recyclable PET plastic bottle.
PepsiCo announces it has found ways to create a molecular structure identical to petroleum-based PET for a bottle that looks, feels and protects products just like existing PET containers. The bottle is made from plant-based, renewable resources that is fully recyclable.
The company’s new “green” bottle is currently being made from materials such as switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, components for the bottle may include orange and potato peels, oat hulls and other byproducts left over from the company’s food business.
It’s a very meaningful step in the right direction when it comes to food packaging. Petroleum is much too valuable for it to end up in a landfill.
PepsiCo initially will outsource for biowaste but their goal is a closed-loop system with their own waste. Expect a pilot production of the new bottle in 2012 and then a full-scale commercialization if it’s successful.
Though these bottles are not biodegradable they encourage recycling. Most importantly people can try to reduce their consumption and drink liquids from a reusable container. Susan Collins, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute says, “It’s reduce, reduce, reduce, then reuse and recycle.”
Rival Coca-Cola Co already produces a “plant bottle,” which is 30 percent made with sugar cane. It is expanding use of that packaging and efforts to convert the remaining 70 percent of its bottle to a plant-based material.
A much different outcome was recently experienced by Frito-Lay’s SunChips, who scrapped a biodegradable bag after consumers complained that the bags were too loud when handled. Seriously.
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2 comments ↓
Frito Sunchips bags were redesigned to be quieter and still biodegradable:
SunChips Biodegradable Bag Made Quieter For Critics
Hi there, we’re glad you’re supportive of the green packaging movement. However, we never took the 100% compostable bag off the market. Late last year we transitioned the 100% compostable bag to our Original flavor and our R&D teams looked at ways to re-design the packaging to be less noisy. After six months of testing, we announced last month that we are bringing the second generation bag to consumers, As Ania commented. The new generation bag is 2x quieter than before. We found that by changing the adhesive layer, which acts like a shock absorber we could significantly reduce the noise of the bag. It’s still made from renewable materials and is 100% compostable in a hot, active compost bin. If you’d like to learn more, please visit http://www.sunchips.com.
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