ISRI Recognizes Coca-Cola's Plant Bottle with Design for Recycling Award

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. presented its Design for Recycling Award to The Coca-Cola Co. during the closing general session of its annual convention. The Coca-Cola Co. earned the recognition for its commitment to reduce the amount of petroleum used in plastic beverage bottles and to ensure packaging is 100 percent recyclable.

Coca-Cola recently introduced PlantBottle, a new PET bottle made with up to 30 percent of its material derived from plants. The bottle is made through a process that turns sugar cane and molasses into a key component for PET plastic that is fully recyclable back into food-grade containers.

"Coca-Cola has demonstrated dynamic leadership in package design, continually developing beverage containers that are effective, efficient and designed for recycling," says John Sacco, ISRI’s chairman and president of Sierra Recycling and Demolition. "The PlantBottle, Coca-Cola's most recent innovation, uses renewable resources and is 100 percent recyclable. This new generation of PET plastic made partially from plants also is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the package—further demonstration of how design for recycling positively impacts the environment."

John Burgess, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Recycling LLC and vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises, accepted the award on behalf of the Coca-Cola system.

"We are honored to accept this award on behalf of the Coca-Cola system, and we are proud to be associated with an organization such as ISRI that is dedicated to increasing recycling," says Burgess. "We are working to create a business environment where our used packaging is not regarded as waste, but as a valuable resource. It takes the cooperation of businesses at all stages of the product life-cycle to make that vision a reality."