Coca-Cola inks new partnership to accelerate global production of PlantBottle packaging

ATLANTA — Coca-Cola has inked a partnership with JBF Industries to further expand production of the plant-based material used in Coca-Cola's PlantBottle packaging.

Coca-Cola said the supply partnership will help the company continue its leadership in bringing renewable, lower-carbon plastics to the marketplace and move the company closer to its target of using PlantBottle packaging technology in all of its plastic bottles by 2020.

PlantBottle packaging is available in more than 24 countries worldwide and across a wide variety of Coca-Cola products, the company said. Since the package launched in 2009, its use has eliminated the equivalent of almost 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions — the equivalent of 200,000 barrels of oil from Coca-Cola's PET plastic packaging.

"The benefits of sustainable innovation are only fully realized when commercialized and put in the hands of consumers," Coca-Cola VP procurement and chief procurement officer Ronald Lewis said. "In 2009, we introduced the world to our PlantBottle package — the first recyclable PET plastic bottle made partially from plants. Today, Coca-Cola has sold more than 10 billion PlantBottle packages around the world that are less dependent on petroleum and have a lower carbon impact. We are pleased that our partnership with JBF Industries will help us further expand global production."