Coca-Cola to use recycled plastic bottles in US

Coca-Cola Co will bottle its sodas for the US market in 13.2oz, 100 percent recycled plastic to combat plastic waste and reduce its carbon footprint.

The new containers are made by cleaning, grinding down, and turning recycled plastic into grain-like flakes before being transformed into bottles.

It will be used in Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar, Coca-Cola Flavors this month to be sold in select states in the Northeast, Florida, and California at a suggested retail price of $1.59.

The launch states were chosen because its customers are more sensitive to sustainability issues," according to Alpa Sutaria, Coca-Cola's general manager of sustainability,

Sutaria added that consumers have been saying they want something a little smaller and easier to consume, so they took this opportunity to make the bottle with 100 percent recyclable plastic.

Sprite will be offered in the new 13.2oz clear bottles in select markets this month before transitioning all packaging to clear bottles by the end of 2022.

Beginning this month, beverages in 20oz recycled bottles will be sold in California and New York, and in Texas by Spring. The bottles would also be used in its Dasani and Smartwater brands in some locations in the coming months.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based beverage giant is criticized for being one of the biggest producers of plastic waste. In 2019, it pledged to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one it sells globally by 2030.

The company said that using the recycled bottles would help cut its use of new plastic by over 20 percent across North America compared with 2018.

Other top polluters, such as Nestle and PepsiCo, have also started redesigning packaging and reducing waste.