Beverage producer The Coca-Cola Company has announced a partnership with New Jersey company Liquid Light to help produce the company’s first 100% plant-based PET bottle.
The small chemicals startup, specialising in low energy catalytic electrochemistry, will help produce precursor chemicals for these bottles.
In an agreement signed between the two companies, a pledge was made to accelerate the development of Liquid Light’s technology which synthesises mono-ethylene glycol(MEG) from carbon dioxide.
Coca-Cola is interested in Liquid Light’s technology as it allows for the more efficient production of bio-MEG from plant sources.
In addition, the CO2 used within their patented process can be sourced from industrial emissions, meaning that the chemical production actually reduces overall pollution, further boosting its green credentials.
MEG is one of several vital precursor chemicals that Coca-Cola intends to use in its news ‘PlantBottle’.
Unveiled last month at the Milan World Expo, this bottle is the company’s vision for the future packaging of its products.
Produced from 100% renewable plant sugar, the bottle nonetheless looks and functions in the same way to a traditional PET bottle.
“Our vision was to maximize game-changing technology, using responsibly sourced plant-based materials to create the globe’s first fully recyclable PET plastic bottle made entirely from renewable materials,” announced Nancy Quan, Global Research and Development Officer at The Coca-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola plans to roll out the new bottle for a number of the companies most famous products, including soft drinks, water, juice and other beverages.
An earlier iteration of the PlantBottle containing 30% plant-based PET is already being mass produced by the company, and can be found in nearly 40 countries around the world.
It is estimated that these bottles have already saved the equivalent annual emissions of more than 315,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
