Coca-cola has made its first upcycled bottles using plastic harvested from the ocean. This technological development may be the future of the company’s packaging.
On Thursday 3 October, Coca-cola revealed 300 sample bottles, which are to be tested to determine if these can become part of the commercial supply chain. The company hopes to roll out the first bottles commercially by 2020.
The world’s fifth-largest brand used a process called depolymerisation to successfully create the first food and drinks packaging from marine plastic waste.
Depolymerisation is the process of breaking down lower-grade plastic, reshaping it, removing any pollutants and converting it into material that can be used for PET plastics (food-grade plastics).
In the past lower-grade, non-transparent and coloured plastics couldn’t be upcycled into bottles. However this new technology allows for lower quality plastics to be used for bottles.
According to the Telegraph, plastic was collected from beach litter and from the Mediterranean sea . The upcycling process then converted the low-quality waste into high-quality plastic, allowing the company to create bottles.
‘Enhanced recycling technologies are enormously exciting, not just for us but for industry and society at large. They accelerate the prospect of a closed loop economy for plastic, which is why we are investing behind them,’ said Bruno van Gompel, Technical and Supply Chain Director, Coca-Cola in Western Europe.
‘As these begin to scale, we will see all kinds of used plastics returned, as good as new, not just once but again and again, diverting waste streams from incineration and landfill.’
‘This bottle is testament to what can be achieved, through partnership and investment in revolutionary new technologies. In bringing together partners from across our supply chain, from a community clean up partnership in Spain and Portugal to an investment in technological innovation in the Netherlands, we have been able, for the first time, to bring damaged marine plastic back to food-grade material to make new bottles.
Image: Unsplash
