For the first time ever, Coca-Cola has created a plastic bottle made in part from plastic waste that has been rescued from the ocean. Only 300 of the bottles have been produced so far, but the company hopes that this is the first step towards mass production.
We could see this bottle on the shelves as soon as 2020.
You might be asking, why is this such a big deal? After all, there are hundreds of products that use recycled packaging on the market right now. So what, we’re supposed to cheer on Coca-Cola for doing the same thing?
It’s actually very different.
The major difference between this new bottle and other recycled materials is that 25% of the bottle is made from “recycled marine plastic” that was retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea and beaches.
As of now, all recycled materials come from a recycling plant. You put your plastic bottles and metal cans into a blue bin, and put them out on the curb. The recycling plant sorts these, treats them, and then they can get turned into all sorts of things.
This plastic wasn’t sorted in a facility but gathered from the ocean. Before now, it was thought to be “unrecyclable”.
The materials Coca-Cola is using were also considered too ‘low-grade’ to be recycled. These plastics were never intended to see the inside of a recycling plant. Now, they have a new life.
This technology that Coca-Cola is using basically takes low-grade and damaged plastics and strips them of their impurities. It then rebuilds them “good as new”, into food-grade containers that can hold soda, water, and more.
If this technology is viable, which it appears to be, it will greatly increase the type of amount of plastic waste that can be recycled. This is a huge win for those worried about the increased amount of plastics in oceans and waterways.
The technology was created for Coca-Cola when they partnered with Ioniqua Technologies, a Dutch startup that has big ideas. Indorama Ventures supplied the plastics.
Coca-Cola is taking big steps on becoming the first major company of its kind to eliminate single-use waste altogether.
The company, which saw $31.85 billion in revenue in 2018, plans to change the game in 2020 by working towards reducing or eliminating all single-use waste in its products. And Coca-Cola owns a lot, including brands like Bacardi, Dasani, Barq’s, Gold Peak, Vitaminwater, and more.
If a company this big is able to seriously reduce or eliminate waste like this entirely, many other companies are sure to follow.
