31 May 2009 — Coca Cola wants to show it cares about the environment by introducing a new “eco-friendly” bottle for its Dasani water line. The new bottle which will be introduced later this year would be made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% of plant-based materials. Initially these materials will include sugarcane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production. According to Coca Cola, the blend could make the recycling process easier and cheaper, and reduce the time that discarded bottles sit in landfills. Are you impressed? You shouldn’t be…
You’ve probably heard about the problem of plastic contamination in recycling plants. The problem is that some of the new plant-based plastics get recycled as if they were polyethylene terephthalate (PET). But when they mix with the other petroleum-based plastics during the recycling process they end up creating a less stable recycled plastic that is of lower quality, hence lower value in the market.
