2Sustain

The Coca-Cola Company’s PlantBottle received a gold award at the 22nd annual global DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation held this week.

Honored for its demonstrated breakthrough packaging innovation, the PlantBottle topped a field of more than 160 global entrants in the overall program. The prestigious DuPont Award is the packaging industry’s longest running, independently judged global award program. Leading international industry and sustainability experts judged entrants on their excellence in innovation, sustainability and cost/waste reduction.

Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle wins on all accounts. It is made from up to 30 percent renewable plant-based material. Plus, it is 100 percent recyclable, like traditional PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic. (In other words, PlantBottle packaging can be recycled in the existing commercial recycling infrastructure.)

I first wrote about the PlantBottle a year ago , when Coca-Cola made its initial announcement. Now, the innovative packaging is available in a variety of pack sizes in the company’s sparkling and still beverage portfolio in the United States, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and Norway.

According to Coca-Cola, the PlantBottle is helping the company reduce its reliance on nonrenewable resources. In addition, preliminary research indicates that the carbon footprint of PlantBottle packaging is an improvement over that of traditional PET bottles.

Still, the company is planning to do even better, and  Coca-Cola says there will be continued development on what it calls the “Bottle of the Future.”

“We are working with R&D partners to advance next generation technologies to allow us to produce future generations of PlantBottle packaging,” says Dr. Shell Huang, Director, Packaging Research, the Coca-Cola Company. “Our ultimate vision is to develop recyclable plastic bottles made from 100 percent renewable materials.”