Sprite is replacing its iconic green plastic bottle with a new, more recyclable clear one.
The Coca-Cola Company stated in a statement on Wednesday that, as part of the efforts to minimize plastic waste, the company would switch the packaging for its lemon-lime beverage from green to clear plastic as of August 1.
The packaging for Sprite at the moment is made of green polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Despite being recyclable, it cannot be precisely recycled into new bottles.
“Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, a plastic group working with Coca-Cola to help with bottle recycling, said in a statement. “This transition will help increase availability of food-grade rPET. When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic.”
Along with a new logo and packaging, Sprite bottles will still have their distinctive green labels.
The company announced that other Coca-Cola products, including Fresca, Seagram’s, and Mello Yello, which currently use green bottles, will move to transparent ones in the coming months.
Coca-Cola also disclosed that starting this summer, the majority of Dasani bottles sold in the United States and Canada will be entirely made of plastic.
Chris Vallette, senior vice president of technical innovation and stewardship for Coca-Cola North America, said, “we saw how much the 100% recycled PET message truly resonates with our customers and consumers, particularly DASANI fans whose sustainability expectations are especially high”.