Sprite retiring iconic green bottle for more sustainable, clear version
Author: Brad Dress
The new bottles will use clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a strong, light plastic that is 100 percent recyclable. Although green Sprite bottles also use PET, they cannot be recycled into new bottles because of their color. Coca-Cola’s entire portfolio of green bottles, including Fresca, Seagram’s and Mello Yello, will also transition to the clear PET in the near future. Coca-Cola is working with the business R3CYCLE to enable more bottle-to-bottle recycling across the U.S. Julian Ochoa, the CEO of R3CYCLE, said in a statement on July 26,2022 that “taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material.” “This transition will help increase availability of food-grade PET,” Ochoa added. “When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.” Coca-Cola on July 26,2022 also announced that a majority of its Dasani water bottles would transition for the first time to 100 percent PET plastic this summer.