Coca-Cola has recently announced that it is producing new bottles from ocean plastic thanks to new breakthrough technology. The new technology can transform low-quality plastic into high-quality food-grade packaging.

The World-renowned brand has produced about 300 sample bottles. Each using 25% recycled marine plastic, retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea and beaches. A small step for now, but the technology behind it has big potential.

Made from marine litter that has been successfully recycled and reused as food and drink packaging, Coca-Cola says that these samples are the first-ever plastic bottles to be made this way. Proving that ocean debris can be used in recycled packaging for food or drinks in the future.

Coca-Cola uses marine plastics and breakthrough technology to create a new bottle

Enhanced Recycling

Enhanced recycling technologies use innovative processes that breakdown the components of plastic. It strips out impurities in lower-grade recyclables so they can be reused like new. This means that lower-grade plastics, that often ended up as landfill, can now be given a new life. It also means more materials are available to make recycled content, reducing the amount of virgin PET needed from fossil fuels, and resulting in a lower carbon footprint.

Although enhanced recycling is still in its infancy, Coca-Cola and its partners have produced the sample marine plastic bottle as a proof of concept for what the technology may achieve in time.

From 2020, Coca-Cola plans to roll out this enhanced recycled content in some of its bottles.

To read the complete press release click here or to find out more about Coca-Cola’s global plan and commitment to ‘zero waste’ click here.