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.
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.