Plant plastic signals change to bottled drinks - 22nd May 2020

Bottled drinks could soon be made using new plant-based plastic bottles.

Coca Cola, Carlsberg and L’Oréal are among the companies supporting the ‘Paper Bottle Project’. The project aims to develop a plastic made from plant sugars instead of fossil fuels.

The new bottles will have an outer cardboard layer, which will be reinforced with a plant-based, plastic inner sleeve. The plastic will be strong enough to contain liquids and ensure the drinks stay cold. When the two layers are separated, they'll be able to be recycled. The plastic itself will only take one year to completely decompose when composted.

The plastic is made by breaking down sustainable plant sugars found in corn, wheat or beets into chemical structures. They are then rearranged to get a new plant-based plastic material.

The bottles are designed by Dutch renewable chemicals company Avantium, packing developer BillerudKorsnäs, and bottle manufacturer Alpla. The investing companies hope to secure the future of their bottled products by focusing efforts on reducing plastic pollution and fossil fuel consumption.

Around 300 million tonnes of plastic is created using fossil fuels each year. Most of this plastic is not recycled, contributing to the rise of microplastics in our oceans and hugely impacting the global climate crisis.

Avantium’s boss, Tom van Aken, says the project is still on track despite the global lockdowns. The company hopes to be producing the new plastic bottles by 2023.