Coke's Recyclable PlantBottle a Winner

You can imagine the kind of environmental sniping sustained by a company like Coca-Cola, the world's leading soft drink company. Criticisms of its plastic bottles alone could fill several thousand recycling centers and landfills.

So it was with some amount of fanfare that Coca-Cola announced a breakthrough in packaging a year ago called the "PlantBottle," which, the company said, is manufactured from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% plant-based materials, making it fully recyclable.

Coca-Cola was shrewd enough at the time to get conservation organizations to endorse the new packaging. "The Coca-Cola Company is a company with the power to transform the marketplace, and the introduction of the PlantBottle is yet another great example of their leadership on environmental issues," said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund U.S., in the press release.

The good news: PlantBottle is performing as promised.

The 100% recyclable bottle is now available in products packaged for consumption in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Norway. It also recently won the gold award, topping over 160 entries, at the 22nd Annual Global DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation.

Earlier in May, the PlantBottle won the Design for Recycling Award from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). ISRI chairman John Sacco, said the PlantBottle "is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the package -- further demonstration of how design for recycling positively impacts the environment."

It's heartening to see a major user of plastic come up with a way to ensure it doesn't destroy our planet. Not a bad PR move either. But then, it's something you'd expect from the world's leading brand who, as we recently reported, is nothing if not innovative.