International Plastics News for Asia

Big players team up for sustainability



Five companies - Coca-Cola, Ford Motor, Heinz, Nike and Procter & Gamble - recently announced the formation of a Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC), a strategic working group focused on accelerating the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.

Such collaboration builds upon the success of Coca-Cola's PlantBottle packaging technology, which is partially made from plants and has demonstrated a lower environmental impact when compared to traditional PET plastic bottles. Currently, Heinz licenses the technology from Coca-Cola for select Heinz ketchup bottles in the U.S. and Canada.

This giant leap by leading companies to support new, and more advanced technologies, to utilize material that is partially made from plants to a solution made entirely from plants can create tremendous impact on our environment. By leveraging the research and development efforts of the founding companies, the PTC is taking the lead to implement a positive change across multiple industries toward environment protection. PTC members are committed to researching and developing commercial solutions for PET plastic made entirely from plants and will aim to drive the development of common methodologies and standards for the use of plant-based plastic including life cycle analyses and universal terminology.

Such commitment by leading companies to champion and support research, expand knowledge and accelerate technology development to enable commercially viable, more sustainably sourced, 100% plant-based PET plastic while reducing the use of fossil fuels would come a long way and will be emulated by other big players across various industries.

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