The biggest players in the bottled beverage industry have announced a change to a more green friendly bottle. The new bottles from Pepsi are made from 100% plant based renewable sources (for a great breakdown of the new Pepsi bottle check out myplasticfreelife.com), while Coke has announced their new bottles will be 30% plant based. This is definitely a move in the right direction by both companies. At least this shows that we are seeing a shift in the mindset of major players like Pepsi, Coke and Nestle, but it still is not a substantial change to the problem posed by single use plastic bottles...and here is why.
- These new bottles are not biodegradable, despite the fact that the name makes them sound that way
- These new bottles are still made from PET plastic, which can leach endocrine disrupting chemicals
- The majority of plastic bottles are not recycled
- Pepsi's bottles only use 10% rPET (recycled PET) from recycled bottles
I still avoid plastic bottles and prefer re-usable coffee thermoses and water canteens. Filling your own bottles at home will always be cheaper than buying bottled water and helps cut down on waste. Don't be fooled by the new plant based PET bottles, they are still not biodegradable. If you do buy them like all plastic they should be recycled.
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