2Sustain

What’s the most sustainable beverage wildly available to Americans today?

According to Greenopia.com, it’s Honest Tea of Bethesda, MD.

In fact, Honest Tea was the only mass-distributed, retail beverage to earn the coveted Greenopia 4-Leaf Rating in the website’s latest green beverage ratings research project.   Steaz and Santa Cruz Organic Sodas rounded out the top three.

Greenopia’s beverage ratings project used a  4-Leaf rating system to summarize the environmental impact and health-effect characteristics of 23 of America’s most popular mass-market beverages. The Greenopia’s Research Staff combed through an extensive list of test criteria, including beverage container, ingredient analysis including product toxicity, supply chain, sustainability reporting, green building design initiatives, and history of environmental violations. The criteria data were gathered, calculated, and analyzed using Greenopia’s proprietary lifecycle eco-cost methodology.

Interestingly, beverage leader  Coca-Cola scored a Greenopia 2-Leaf Rating, while competitor Pepsi earned only a 1-Leaf Rating.  Greenopia points out that each of organizations has a different approach to sustainability. Coca-Cola is more focused on its supply chain and packaging; Pepsi is strongest in its logistics. By contrast, other popular beverages, such as Dr. Pepper , Monster, Powerade, Red Bull and Vitamin Water, scored a zero Greenopia Leaf Rating. (Note: There is some confusing overlap among businesses here. The Coca-Cola Company purchased 40 percent of Honest Tea back in 2008, for example.)

The complete results are available here. (This results table is especially enlightening because it allows you to easily compare “green” characteristics of one beverage directly against another.)