Applications New
Applications New Sustainable Bottle Initiative This year is looking even greener for Odwalla Inc., a company of the Coca-Cola group based in Halfmoon Bay, California, USA. The natural health beverage company recently announced plans to transition all of the brand‘s single-serve bottles to PlantBottle packaging, HDPE (high density polyethylene) made completely out of plant-based materials and 100% recyclable, in March 2011. The new Odwalla package will help The Coca-Cola Company to reduce dependence on nonrenewable resources. For example, the potential annual CO 2 emission reduction from the use of plant-based material, instead of petroleum, to make Odwalla‘s PlantBottle packaging is equal to a savings of almost 1.5 million liters (400,000 gallons) of gasoline for driving a car. “Plants do such a good job of making our juice, Odwalla hired them to help make our bottles,“ said Alison Lewis, President, Odwalla. “Doing good things for the community and building a business with heart are core guiding principles of Odwalla‘s vision. PlantBottle packaging is just the latest step in our continued commitment to the environment.“ Combined with Odwalla‘s Plant A Tree Program, which has planted over 300,000 trees in the last 3 years, and Odwalla‘s Bloom Energy Fuel Cell technology commencing at Odwalla‘s plant in Dinuba, California - which reduces the plant‘s carbon footprint by 35% while supplying 30% of the plant‘s energy needs - PlantBottle packaging is the latest step in Odwalla‘s efforts and innovations to reduce dependence on nonrenewable resources. The HPDE PlantBottle packaging consists of material derived from molasses and sugarcane juice. It has the same performance as traditional HDPE bottles: no differences in shelf life, weight, composition, appearance or recyclability. Being asked about a potential confusion arising from the recently introduced name ‘PlantBottle’ for this new HDPE bottle, Dr. Klaus Stadler of Coca-Cola Europe said to bioplastics MAGAZINE: “We now have two packaging types using plant-based materials. We have our plant-based PET package which was launched in 2009. This recyclable PET plastic package uses up to 30% by weight plant-based materials (for the mono ethylene glycol component) and is compatible for use with a wide-range of our products, including our sparkling beverages and many of our stills. And we are also working to innovate a plant-based solution to the other element of PET plastic which is terephthalic acid (TA). In 2010 we introduced over 2.5 billion Plant-Bottle PET packages in the marketplace globally and we expect to double that volume in 2011.” Concerning Odwalla he added: “HDPE is a great plastic for our Odwalla juices, but it is not acceptable for carbonated beverages because it has higher gas permeability. It also is not ideal for bottled waters because it is not ‘crystal clear’ - it is translucent. There is only one material used to make PE: ethylene. Ethylene can be made today from renewable materials from sugar cane-based ethanol, so it can be 100% from renewables, or to a minimum of 96% to be precise. However, we have very little HDPE in our system, but for Odwalla this made sense. The material is produced by Braskem using Brazilian sugarcane. We are also exploring options with Braskem (like bio-based closures). We realize the possible confusion likely to be created by this given a recyclable HDPE bottle with nearly 100% plant-based material versus a PET bottle with up to 30%. Due to the amount of PET we are using, our main focus remains on PET and building out a bPET (bio-PET) infrastructure. MT www.thecoca-colacompany.com 24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/11] Vol. 6
Applications World‘s First 100% Plant-Based PET Bottle PepsiCo, headquartered in Purchase, New York, USA, announced in mid march it has developed the world‘s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources, enabling the company to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, thus again building upon its heritage as an innovator and leader in environmental sustainability. PepsiCo‘s ‘green’ bottle is 100% recyclable and far surpasses existing industry technologies. The bottle is made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, the company expects to broaden the renewable sources used to create the ‘green’ bottle to include orange peels, potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its foods business. This process further reinforces PepsiCo‘s ‘Power of One’ advantage by driving a strategic beverage innovation via a food-based solution. “This breakthrough innovation is a transformational development for PepsiCo and the beverage industry, and a direct result of our commitment to research and development,“ said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi. “PepsiCo is in a unique position, as one of the world‘s largest food and beverage businesses, to ultimately source agricultural byproducts from our foods business to manufacture a more environmentally-preferable bottle for our beverages business – a sustainable business model that we believe brings to life the essence of Performance with Purpose.“ spokesperson responded that with PepsiCo’s latest scientific breakthrough, they have ‘cracked the code’ on transforming biomass into terephthalic acid. However, given that patents are currently pending, they are unfortunately not at liberty for the time being to discuss details of the process. bioplastics MAGAZINE will continue and try to get details latest for the bottle/blow moulding issue (July/August). PepsiCo will pilot production of the new bottle in 2012. Upon successful completion of the pilot, the company intends to move directly to full-scale commercialization. “As You Sow applauds PepsiCo‘s innovative packaging design,“ said Conrad Mackerron, Senior Program Director of ‘As You Sow’, a San Francisco-based foundation, which promotes corporate social responsibility through shareholder engagement. “By reducing reliance on petroleum-based materials and using its own agricultural scraps as feedstock for new bottles, this advancement should deliver a double win for the environment and PepsiCo.“ With this development – as stated in the press release - PepsiCo continues its leadership position in environmental sustainability and driving progress against the global goals and commitments it announced in 2010 to protect the Earth‘s natural resources through innovation and more efficient use of land, energy, water and packaging. – (PRNewswire) MT www.pepsico.com Combining biological and chemical processes, PepsiCo has identified methods to create a molecular structure that is identical to petroleum-based PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which results in a bottle that looks, feels and protects its product identically to existing PET beverage containers. bioplastics MAGAZINE asked PepsiCo for details on the production route for biobased therephthalic acid. A Indra Nooyi bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/11] Vol. 6 25
