The new 13.2-ounce recyclable bottle that some customers will see on the shelves this week is made entirely of other plastics, and is the latest move by Coca-Cola’s initiative for several years to reduce its plastic waste. Coca-Cola also expects the size to attract younger drinkers, under the age of 25, who are looking for sustainable packaging (and even shunning the company).
The new bottle will be available starting this month in certain northeastern states, including New York and Connecticut, as well as in California and Florida, before being launched nationwide this summer. Coke describes the size as a “more friable package” and will debut with the company’s most popular soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar at a suggested retail price of $ 1.59.
“We’ve been listening to consumers and they’ve told us they want something a little smaller and a little easier to consume,” Alpa Sutaria, Coca-Cola’s director general of sustainability, told CNN Business. “We took the opportunity to make a bottle with 100% recyclable plastic.”
The 13.2-ounce size is slightly larger than its aluminum can and is smaller than the typical 20-ounce bottle. Unique sizes like the 7.5-ounce mini can get strong sales.
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Meanwhile, the recycled plastic material will also be on display in 20-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke in New York, California and Texas this month, as well as for the company’s Dasani and Smartwater brands in certain locations in the coming months .
Sutaria said developing the new packaging has been a “love job and a great innovation” for Coca-Cola. Recycled plastic is cleaned, crushed and turned into grain-shaped flakes before being transformed into a new bottle.
He added that launch states were chosen because customers in these areas “are more sensitive to the challenges we have around sustainability issues.”
Coca-Cola is often criticized for helping to damage plastic waste. Last year, the ecological company Break Free From Plastic was named the world’s No. 1 plastic polluting company. Their logos and brands were found in 13,834 pieces of plastic in 51 countries, often discarded in public spaces such as parks and beaches.
In 2018, Coke announced its “Waste-Free World” initiative with the ultimate goal of, in 2030, collecting and recycling a bottle or can for everyone it sells. According to Sutaria, the new bottle is a “big step in that direction.”
“We are committed to innovating and developing technology to minimize our impact,” he said, adding that the company “continues our commitment to real action”.
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Coca-Cola is not the only multinational conglomerate that aims to reduce its plastic pollution. Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, announced last year that it would spend $ 2 billion on similar initiatives. Pepsi recently launched a redesigned 2-liter bottle that uses 24% less material.
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