Coca-Cola Announces 100% Plant Material Bottle

At the World Expo in Milan, Italy, on June 3, 2015, The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) unveiled the world's first 100% plant material polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle. Coca-Cola has been using the 30% plant material PlantBottle™ since 2009, so this is the first bottle that is made completely from renewable materials while functioning exactly as a traditional PET bottle. It is estimated that the previous iteration of the PlantBottle™ reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than 315,000 metric tons when used by brands, including Coca-Cola and Smartwater. While the new PlantBottle™ does not have a timeline for when it will be widely available, Coca-Cola plans to continue to invest in the new packaging and continuing partnerships with biotechnology companies like Virent.