Coke Makes Bottle Changes to Boost Recycling

The Coca Cola Co. announced changes to its plastic bottles sold in North America. Dasani bottles will be made from 100% recycled PET, and Sprite bottles will transition from green to clear plastic, which is more likely to be recycled into new bottles.

A majority of Dasani bottles in the U.S. will be offered in 100% recycled plastic beginning this summer. The shift is expected to conserve more than 20 million lb of new plastic, compared to 2019, and cut more than 25,000 m.t. of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 alone.

A 2021 launch of recycled bottles in California, New York, and Texas, helped the company to identify sources for recycled PET and fine-tune production processes.

Plastic bottles of Sprite will be clear beginning August 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. During the sorting process, green and other colored PET is separated from clear material to avoid discoloring recycled food-grade packaging required to make new PET bottles. 

Coca-Cola began transitioning Sprite to clear bottles in 2019, in Western Europe and Southeast Asia.

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