PepsiCo Introduces Plant Based Plastic Bottle
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 01:12PM 
PR NewswireAfter about a decade of study, in 2011 PepsiCo’s in-house Research and Development team figured out how to manipulate fermented plant material into the molecular structure of PET.
In the past, plant-based bottle initiatives faced an environmental challenge: they were impossible to recycle within the PET waste stream, confusing eco-conscious consumers and doing little to solve the problem of accumulating landfill waste. PepsiCo’s breakthrough material is 100 percent plant-based, except for the cap, and fully recyclable within the current PET stream.
Prototype plant-based bottles were made using switchgrass, pine bark and corn husks, among other plant-based materials. Eventually, PepsiCo expects to be able to incorporate wastes from its food businesses, including orange peels, potato peels and oat hulls. PepsiCo’s food portfolio includes the Frito-Lay line of potato and tortilla chips, the Tropicana juice line, and the Quaker brand of oatmeal, cereals, granola bars and rice snacks. The plant-based bottles are not currently manufactured using sustainably sourced organic materials.
Because the new plant-based bottles are identical to petroleum-derived PET bottles on the molecular level, the plant based bottles can be blown, filled and labeled the same way— avoiding the need for major capital investments on the factory floor. PepsiCo merged with its two major bottlers, The Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas, Inc. in 2010, giving the company direct control over the manufacturing process.
PepsiCo plans to test a few hundred thousand of the plant-based bottles in 2012, in order to make sure it can mass-produce the bottles at scale. After pilot testing is complete, the company will decide which markets and brands will feature the new technology. As implementation moves forward, the company will also track the life-cycle environmental impacts of the bottles in order to account for environmental savings.
Read more at the NRDC's Smarter Business website
Read PepsiCo's full press release
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