North American consumers will no longer see Sprite in green PET bottles as The Coca-Cola Co. works to increase bottle-to-bottle recycling. | Adnan Zain Kautsar/Shutterstock
To make recycling its bottles easier, Coca-Cola announced it will switch all of its green PET to clear PET in coming months.
Sprite bottles made the transition on Aug. 1, with the rest of Coca-Cola North America’s green plastic portfolio, including Fresca, Seagram’s and Mello Yello, making the change in the next few months, a press release stated.
“Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, which is working with Coca-Cola Consolidated to enable bottle-to-bottle recycling. “This transition will help increase availability of food-grade RPET.”
Sprite is also launching a new “visual identity system” with a revamped logo and packaging design for a consistent look and voice globally, but the packaging graphics will keep the brand’s recognizable green hue.
The press release also said that the company is producing DASANI bottles made from 100% recycled PET, excluding caps and labels. The majority of those water bottles in the U.S. and all DASANI bottles in Canada will be offered in 100% recycled plastic this summer.
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