Coca-Cola: PlantBottle Technology™ Tops 2014 Sustainable Bio Awards

Company recognized for its first-ever recyclable PET plastic bottle made partially from plants

The Coca-Cola Company was presented with the Industry Champion of the Year award recently at the fifth annual 2014 Sustainable Bio Awards in Amsterdam.

The annual awards, now in their sixth year, recognize companies and individuals who have displayed innovation and leadership in the development of truly sustainable and renewable fuel and chemical solutions. Coke was recognized for its PlantBottle Technology™, the first-ever recyclable PET plastic bottle made partially from plants.

Coke is the largest bio-plastic end user in the world and is focused on having all new PET plastic it uses contain PlantBottle technology by 2020. Since its initial launch in 2009, more than 20 billion PlantBottle packages have been distributed in 31 countries resulting in more than 445,000 barrels of oil saved.

“Bringing home the Industry Champion honor is a further testament of Coke’s global leadership in sustainable innovation and advancement of breakthrough technology that uses renewable materials for product solutions,” said Scott Vitters, GM, PlantBottle Packaging Platform.

KLM, Neste Oil, Sky NRG, Dutch Government and Port of Rotterdam were presented the Collaboration of the Year award, and DuPont won Bio-based Product Innovation of the Year alongside Procter & Gamble.

The Sustainability Bio Award’s parent company, Green Power Conferences, was founded in 2003 as the first company to create independent, professional events for the renewable energy and sustainable markets. Green Power Conferences CEO Nadim Chaudhry, said: “Our industry has such outstanding leaders, innovative technology and ground-breaking partnerships happening all the time. Every year the nomination numbers increase and the judges find it more difficult to choose a winner. We are delighted with caliber of this year’s winners and the vision and innovation of their entries.

In 2013, Coke expanded the use of PlantBottle Technology beyond packaging and into fabric surfaces by partnering with the Ford Motor Company. Together, Coke and Ford unveiled a Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid vehicle that featured the first-ever fabric covering for seat cushions, head restraints and more, made with Coke’s PlantBottle Technology. The pioneering collaboration has demonstrated the power of partnership to embrace a smarter, more sustainable design. Also in 2013, Coke teamed with the World Wildlife Fund to launch the BioPlastics Feedstock Alliance, a new coalition with several other leading consumer brand companies focused on guiding the evaluation and sustainable development of plant-based materials.

Through innovative engineering and alongside technological partners like Virent, Gevo and Avantium, Coke has demonstrated the potential to produce the first-ever 100% renewable, fully-recyclable plastic bottle. Continuing on its journey of evolution, Coke is now working to advance commercial pathways for successfully achieving its long-term goal to bring a 100% renewable, fully-recyclable plastic bottle to the market.

The judging panel this year was led by a strong cross section of the biofuels industry:

  • Rob Vierhout, President of ePure
  • Kyriakos Maniatis, Head of Unit, New Energy Technologies, DG Energy, European Commission
  • Thierry de l’Escaille, Secretary General of the European Landowners Organization
  • Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director, European Bioplastics,
  • Jonathan Burbaum, ARPA-E Program Director, US Department of Energy

Source

Coca-Cola Company, press release, 2014-03-24.

Supplier

Avantium Technologies B.V.
BioPlastics Feedstock Alliance
Coca-Cola Co.
DuPont
European Bioplastics e.V.
European Commission
European Landowners Organization (ELO)
European Renewable Ethanol Association (ePURE)
Gevo Inc.
Green Power Conferences
KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines
Neste Oil
Procter & Gamble
US Department of Energy (DoE)
Virent, Inc.
WWF Deutschland

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