Life Without Plastic Blog

Coca Cola Wants Your Attention with a Hybrid Plastic-Sugarcane Bottle

Coca Cola wants to show it cares about the environment by introducing a new "eco-friendly" bottle for its Dasani water line. The new bottle which will be introduced later this year would be made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% of plant-based materials. Initially these materials will include sugarcane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production. According to Coca Cola, the blend could make the recycling process easier and cheaper, and reduce the time that discarded bottles sit in landfills. Are you impressed? You shouldn't be...

You've probably heard about the problem of plastic contamination in recycling plants. The problem is that some of the new plant-based plastics get recycled as if they were polyethylene terephthalate (PET).  But when they mix with the other petroleum-based plastics during the recycling process they end up creating a less stable recycled plastic that is of lower quality, hence lower value in the market.

A good illustration of this problem is the Primo Water Bottle which is made of Ingeo^TM, 100% corn-based plastic made  by Minnesota-based Natureworks. It composts only in high-temperature commercial composting systems. It looks the same as PET plastic, which makes it difficult to distinguish from regular plastics in the recycling mix so it contaminates the quality of PET recycled plastics. Morever, PLA melts at lower temperatures, recyclers say, a nuisance in dryers used to process recycled PET. Therefore, it can only be recycled in recycling facilities that are equipped to deal with it. The company encourages the recycling of the bottles over its composting, but admits that although the technology to adequately recycle Ingeo^TM plastic used in Primo bottles exists today, it "is not universally accessible."  (http://www.primowater.com/single-serve_faq.php)

So, what Coca Cola is creating is a monster because the two different types of polymers (plant-based and petroleum-based) are actually blended in together making it much less desirable for recycling purposes and impossible to compost, let alone incinerate (unlike 100% PLA plastics, this blend would emit dioxins). So you end up with a bottle that is not biodegradable nor compostable while not being recyclable. Coca Cola was actually doing better for the environment before it tried to be "eco-friendly". Best would have been to stick to glass. Coke is one of the biggest producers of plastic bottles. Consumers drain about a billion plastic PET bottles every week, with only 18-23% recycled, according to the Container Recycling Institute, a non-profit advocacy group in Washington.

- Chantal

(Sources: "Corn plastic sounds great, but it's tough to recycle and may foul systems" by Scott Learn, The Oregonian, October 27, 2008; "Coke to release new ‘Earth-friendly’ bio-bottle within days" by Bill Bruce, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 14, 2009)

Yikes - wine in plastic! I'll stick to glass, thanks

The Wine Industry Association of Western Australia doesn't think moving from glass to plastic bottles for wine is necessarily a bad idea.  I don't know about you, but it would make me not want to drink the wine.  And it appears the Southern Australian wine maker Wolf Blass has already begun to offer some of it's wines in polyethylene terepthalate (PET) bottles. The main claimed justification is environmental:  i.e., that the plastic bottles create 29% less greenhouse gas emissions and are much lighter.  There does not appear to be any mention of the move to plastic bottles being significantly cheaper for the winemaker.  Greenwashing?  Perhaps it was inevitable in this often bottom-line, convenience-driven world we live in, but the thought of vino sitting and aging in plastic just does not seem right.  The company says the wines being packaged in these bottles are not intended for cellaring, but to be consumed within 48 hours.  So what happens after 48 hours?  And for those who do go ahead and cellar it unknowingly, should they expect it to taste better after 10 years of being surrounded by PET?  It'll certainly be more potent.

- Jay

Cheering for Fair Trade and Plastic Bag Free Town with a Hot Guy!

I already mentioned in an earlier post that Jay and I are involved in making our town -- which is already officially designated as Fair Trade -- a single use plastic bag free one. The Plastic Bag Free Town initiative will be launched on Saturday May 9th at the Fair Trade Fair in Wakefield, Quebec, and for the occasion a "fair trade" fashion show will be presented. Jay was recruited as one of the models. He is featured this week on our local newspaper The Low Down. You can see him this week only by clicking here. We are hoping to raise awareness about the dangers to health and the environment of plastic bags, but also the importance of buying under the fair trade logo.

We will tell you more about the event soon!

- Chantal