Following a limited run of 900 prototype bottles, Coca Cola has announced that they are ready to take their 100% plant-based bottle to a commercial scale. The bottle, made from a bPet (biomass polyethylene terephthalate) has been a well-known development priority for the brand for several years. It has been developed with Changchun Meihe Science & Technology who co-own the process. Finnish forestry-based company UPM are in the process of building a full-scale commercial facility in Germany to manufacture the bottles. bPet is manufactured from two molecules, one of which, bMEG (bio monoethylene glycol) is to be produced at a commercial level by UPM. The other molecule required is PTA (terephthalic acid), which is comprised of bPTA and Virent’s bPX (bio-based paraxylene). As the resulting material has the same molecular structure as fossil-based PET, it is interchangeable with other PET products in the waste and recycling stream. In Europe and the Japanese markets, Coca-Cola and its bottling partners, aim to eliminate the use of oil-based virgin PET from plastic bottles completely by 2030.
More info in The Innovation Zone. |