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.
