Let the world of PET bottles rejoice. PepsiCo has developed the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources, enabling the company to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
The new bottle is 100% recyclable and, according to the company, “far surpasses existing industry technologies.” The bottle is made from bio-based raw materials, including switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, it expects to broaden the renewable sources used to create the green bottle to include orange peels, potato peels, oat hulls and other agricultural byproducts from its foods business.
Combining biological and chemical processes, PepsiCo has identified methods to create a molecular structure that is identical to petroleum-based PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which the company claims results in a bottle that looks, feels and protects its product identically to existing PET beverage containers.
PepsiCo will pilot production of the new bottle in 2012. Upon successful completion of the pilot, the company intends to move directly to full-scale commercialization.
I saw this on Good Morning America this morning. Made me proud because The Inspired Economist broke the story yesterday!
Sounds like a step forward, but will they use these bottles in India, where discarded piles of PepsiCo plastic bottles are everywhere? And recycling is great, but is PepsiCo doing anything to promote recycling in India. No evidence of this, there. It would be terrific to see PepsiCo take a lead role in eliminating the issue of wasted plastic bottles in India, given their connect to the great country.
I’m a investor in PepsiCo and i cant fit my weiner in the new eco friendly bottles!!!@!@!@ HELP!@!@!@!@ 🙁 🙁 just went poopp