Coca-Cola makes changes to PET bottling for Dasani and Sprite beverages

Coca-Cola Co. is making changes to the use of PET packaging in two of its biggest brands in North America.

The Atlanta-based beverage maker is eliminating the use of green PET for Sprite in North America, and also converting the majority of Dasani water bottles in the U.S. to 100 per cent recycled PET (rPET) starting this summer; in Canada, this change applies to all Dasani bottles, making it Coca-Cola Co.’s first flagship brand that is 100 per cent rPET in Canada.

“The shift supports both Dasani’s pledge to remove the equivalent of 2 billion virgin plastic bottles from production by 2027 compared to 2021 levels and [our] World Without Waste goal to use at least 50 per cent recycled material in its bottles and cans by 2030,” Coca-Cola officials said in a statement.

The Dasani brand’s transition to 100 per cent recycled plastic – with the exception of caps and labels – is projected to save more than 20 million pounds of new plastic compared to 2019, Coca-Cola said, and cut more than 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 alone, since creating bottles from recycled plastic uses less energy than virgin PET.

Sprite, meanwhile, is shifting all of plastic PET packaging from its signature green colour to clear, beginning Aug. 1. Although green PET is recyclable, the recycled material is more often converted into single-use items like clothing and carpeting that cannot be recycled into new PET bottles, Coca-Cola said. During the sorting process, green and other coloured PET is separated from clear material to avoid discolouring recycled food-grade packaging required to make new PET bottles.

“Taking colours out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, which is working with Coca-Cola Consolidated to enable bottle-to-bottle recycling across the largest U.S. bottler’s 14 state-territory. “This transition will help increase availability of food-grade rPET. When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”

Coca-Cola North America’s entire green plastic portfolio – which includes packaging for Fresca, Seagram’s, and Mello Yello – will transition to clear PET in the coming months, the company said.