Coke bottler’s switch to clear PET provides lessons learned

A recent case study from the Northeast Recycling Council offers insights on transitioning packaging materials, gleaned from a regional Coca-Cola bottler that switched from green PET to clear for several of its products.

The case study, part of NERC’s Guide to Increasing Recycling Supply, explores the process experienced by Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast. The local bottler sells drinks from Coke, Keurig Dr Pepper, Fairlife milk and others in New England and upstate New York.

Coca-Cola North America announced in August 2022 it was switching to clear PET packaging for its Sprite, Fresca and Mello Yello drinks. Like other beverage brands, Coca-Cola sells concentrates and syrups to its nearly 70 bottling partners in North America for manufacture, packaging and distribution, but does not own or operate most local bottling companies, according to its website. 

The primary objective of the switch was to improve the quality of post-consumer PET bales by reducing color contamination, which in turn would improve bottle recyclability and increase the efficiency of plastic reprocessing, the report said. The company did not publish any formal goals, but the move aimed to help increase supply of PCR suitable for use in food-grade applications, according to NERC.

Although the study acknowledges that Coca-Cola’s initiative was voluntary as part of its internal sustainability strategy, the lessons learned can be useful for other companies considering making changes. 

Setting realistic timelines

Among the most significant challenges was the time lag between Coca-Cola ceasing production of green PET bottles and those bottles disappearing from the recycling stream. Previously distributed products took about two years to work their way through retail channels and consumers’ homes, the study found. 

“This delay highlighted the slow turnover of existing packaging in the market and underscored the importance of setting realistic expectations for change implementation in large-scale sustainability efforts,” the study authors said. 

Weighing branding against sustainability 

As expected, the switch to clear PET helped improve recycling rates and streamline the sorting process, according to the study.

Despite the successes detailed in the report, one colored PET bottle remains in the bottler’s company portfolio. Canada Dry is produced by Keurig Dr Pepper, which operates independently and makes all decisions about packaging, the report said. 

“This highlights not only the collaborative challenges that can arise across brand owners in advancing sustainability goals, but also the delicate balance between preserving iconic brand identities and embracing necessary change,” the report authors said. 

Even so, the consumer market responded well to the transition in materials, especially in higher education. “Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast’s sustainability messaging strongly resonated with college and university partners, many of whom face increasing pressure from students to adopt environmentally responsible practices,” the report said. “The shift to clear PET provided a clear and tangible example of progress that institutions could point to when evaluating their beverage providers.”

Increasing economic benefits 

While better recyclability was the biggest driver for Coca-Cola’s decision to transition away from green PET, the report said, the Northeast company saw notable improvements in both the quantity and quality of PET collected. 

And the higher quality also led to more valuable bales, the report said. “Because PET pricing is largely determined by clarity and purity,” the company noted higher pricing per pound for the recycled PET.

MRFs throughout the U.S. sell post-consumer PET bales collected via curbside services, but the Northeast and West Coast markets also offer higher-quality bottle bales, as a result of the concentration of deposit return schemes in those regions. Although PET bale consumption is regional due to the high cost of transportation, recent West Coast pricing offers an example of the correlation between bale quality and pricing. 

The most recent winning bids in California’s state auction for deposit-bottle bales were at a premium of 8.75 cents per pound, or nearly 60%, over curbside bales. The spread with curbside bales that include thermoforms was even wider at 9.75 cents, or 70% higher, according to the PET Recycling Corporation of California, which holds the biweekly auctions. 

In addition, the move to clear PET eased the sorting burden at redemption centers and other recycling facilities by reducing the amount of color-related contamination in the materials stream, the report said. The fact that these quality improvements didn’t require industry partners to make additional investments or workflow changes helped encourage downstream buy-in, the report added.  

However, the transition did bring monetary and logistical challenges. Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast had to secure greater volumes of higher quality clear PET resin, which was more expensive than its green counterpart, and had to make slight adjustments to the production process to accommodate the material in making bottle preforms, the report said. 

Another issue was a modest reduction in product shelf life, because clear PET provides less protection from light than colored bottles.