Coca-Cola Unveils Prototype Bottle Made Entirely From Plants

The Coca-Cola Company presented its first prototype bottle made entirely from 100% plant-based plastic (bPET). The bottle was created in partnership with Changchun Meihe Science & Technology and UPM using technology that is now ready to be commercially scaled. 

A week earlier, the company announced that it is planning the commercialisation of technologies to convert second-generation biomass to plant-based mono ethylene glycol (bMEG), which is necessary to create bPET. The other molecule used is PTA, comprised of bPTA and Virent's bPX.

The plant-based bottle is made from renewable, plant-based sources and contains no petroleum-based content. 

The Coca-Cola Company says it represents a significant technological breakthrough and allows the reduction of fossil fuels-based PET in the beverage industry.  

The latest prototype bottle arrives 12 years after Coca-Cola first introduced its PlantBottle as the first recyclable PET plastic bottle made at the time with 30% monoethylene glycol (MEG) from sugarcanes and 70% terephthalic acid (PTA) from oil-based sources.

Coca-Cola produced a limited number of 900 prototype plant-based bottles. The packaging is recyclable and can be recycled bottle-to-bottle within existing recycling facilities, alongside PET bottles. 

Commenting on the presentation, Coca-Cola’s chief technical and innovation officer, Nancy Quan, said: “We have been working with technology partners for many years to develop the right technologies to create a bottle with 100% plant-based content – aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint – and it’s exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist and can be scaled by participants in the value chain”.

Coca-Cola’s global packaging and sustainability R&D director, Dana Breed, stated: “The inherent challenge with going through bioethanol is that you are competing with fuel. We needed a next-generation MEG solution that addressed this challenge, but also one that could use second-generation feedstock like forestry waste or agricultural byproducts.”

She added: “Our goal for plant-based PET is to use surplus agricultural products to minimise carbon footprint, so the combination of technologies brought by the partners for commercialisation is an ideal fit with this strategy”.

The Coca-Cola Company will be investing more in packaging improvements, refilling stations and recycling technologies in order to become more sustainable. The goal is to make 100% of its packaging recyclable and ensure that 50% of it is made from recycled materials. 

The company also plans to become a net-zero carbon business by 2050 and aims to use three million tonnes less virgin plastic from oil-based sources by 2025. Considering Coca-Cola's market share, this would mean 20% less of this kind of plastic worldwide than today.

Additionally, the company is committed to eliminating the use of oil-based virgin PET from plastic bottles in Europe and Japan by 2030, using only recycled or renewable materials.