Plant-Based PET, HDPE Uses Grow

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, is expanding its PlantBottle brand and applications. The original PlantBottle was made of PET derived in part from Brazilian sugar cane or molasses, which is used to make ethanol and then ethylene glycol, a building block for HDPE. Now natural health beverage company Odwalla Inc., Dinubia, Calif., a subsidiary of Coca-Cola, plans to transition all of its single-serve bottles to PlantBottle packaging of HDPE made from 96% to 100% plant-based materials—again, sugar cane juice or molasses. At present, the only commercial HDPE from sugar cane is made by Braskem in Brazil.

In addition, rigid packaging film supplier Klöckner Pentaplast Group, Gordonsville, Va., has introduced TerraPET APET films made with up 30% plant-based material. The company said this means ethylene glycol derived from ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane. According to marketing director Christopher Findley, plant-based TerraPET film has an advantage over films containing recycled PET because it lacks the extra heat history, which can produce black specks. Although plant-based TerraPET costs a little more, users may be able to downgauge relative to using recycle-content films.