Hot damn. We are back already.

Last week, we looked at some of the amazing uses plastic. If you missed it, here’s a link: Plastics Fantastic. We looked at how amazing plastic-based products are, and how they have been used in the building, medical and toy industries.

Plastic is durable, mouldable and best of all, it’s cheaper than alternatives in almost all applications.

Plastic’s many qualities also make it a great option for packaging. More products today are packaged in plastic, than any other type of packaging. I would go as far to say, more products are packages in plastic today, that have ever been packaged before! Packaging accounts for over 60% of all plastics produced today!

Today, we are going to take a look global giant! One of the most globally recognisable brands in the world. Today, we are diving head first into a pool of Coca-Cola!

We all know Coca-Cola. This company built its brand on its iconic glass bottle.

However, driven by profits, The Coca-Cola company slowly switched to plastic bottles as its most widely used packaging.

The Plastic bottle, is not just made of 1 type of plastic. its made up of 3 different plastics.

1. Plastic Cap (PET, HDPE LDPE or PP)
2. Plastic Bottle (PET)
3. Plastic label (Polypropylene)

As it stands today, only the bottle is recycleSable. But, that does not mean it IS recycled. It also does not mean that it is made from recycled materials. 90% of all plastic products made today is from virgin plastic!

This is where the fairy tale of plastic starts to unravel. The evils of the plastic industry start to reveal themselves, as we peel back the layers.

Before we dive into the numbers, lets look a Glass vs Plastic, as a material for packaging drinks.

Glass vs Plastic

Glass shares many qualities of the modern plastic PET bottle. The modern PET bottles have been made to imitate the glass bottles they have replace.

Areas where plastic trumps Glass

Plastic is lightweight. This may reduce the cost of transportation. it also makes it a little easier to handle. Its interesting that most alcohol still comes in glass bottles. There are still quite a few brands of soft drink, water and juice that come in glass bottles.

Plastic is durable. Drop a glass bottle. it may break. Glass can be dangerous if it comes in contact with our skin. Its also difficult to clean up broken glass. Drop a plastic bottle.. it may scratch.. and the contents may fizz up, but that’s about it!

Areas where Glass trumps Plastic

Glass is impermeable to air. Unlink plastic, glass does not leach chemicals into the liquids it contains. Plastic containers do. This is why beer does not come in plastic bottles. The taste is effected. The shelf life is also greatly reduced. The same goes for wine!

Coloured glass protects the contents from UV Light. This is not important for water and soft drinks. Alcoholic drinks are generally made to have a longer shelf life than water, and soft drinks.

Glass can be pasteurised. This means, heat can be applied to it, prior to putting food into the contain. I learned this the hard way after making 12 big bottles of tomato relish. I did not put the glass jars in the oven before putting the relish into the jars. Over the next week, the jars lids began to explode, sending tomato relish all over the kitchen, and scaring the shit out of everyone in the house! PET plastic bottles cannot be pasteurised, as they will deform.

Glass is infinity recyclable. Glass can be recycled for EVER, without its properties degrading with each step. Plastic and paper are examples of product that degrade each time they are recycled, meaning a % of virgin material must be added to maintain the quality of the material.

So there you have it. Glass, is pretty amazing. This last point is the real kicker don’t you think?

What i find ironic, is that Glass is made from sand. Plastic has replaced Glass as the most widely used packaging for drinks. and now these same plastic bottles litter our sandy beaches!

Plastic by numbers

The Coca-Cola Company published a report last year, Coca-Cola A World Without Waste which shows their commitment to increasing their use of recycled materials.

Wow, isn’t this AMAZING! for Every Bottle Coke makes, it will collect and recycle 1 bottle, by 2030.

If Coke was to do this today, they would have to collect 110 billion PET bottles each year! And that is just to clean up the rubbish it has created in THIS year. But, Coke has been using plastic bottles since 1978!

45 years ago, Coke introduced its first plastic bottle. the 2 litre PET come bottle was introduced to consumers. Since then, plastic has slowly become the most widely used packaging material for Coke products.

So, for 45 Years, Coke has been filling supermarkets with plastic bottles… And we the consumer, have been buying it in extraordinary numbers. Today, Coke makes, distributes and sells 200,000 plastic bottles a minute!

That should really scare you! 1 company… produces 200,000 plastic bottles a MINUTE!

Personally, i don’t buy any of this green washing bull-shit from Coca-Cola. If they were really committed to a “World without Waste” they would commit to removing a plastic bottle from the environment, for every PET bottle they have EVER produced.

What next

As consumers, this is one area where we actually have a very clear choice.

IF you have to get your Coke fix, grab a glass bottle, or aluminium can.

And whats next for companies like Coca-Cola?

Well, they are at it again with the green-washing. Check out these beautify new commercials from Coca-Cola…

And here’s another!

Did you notice? All Glass Bottles! NO PLASTIC bottles!

This change in marketing from Coke is a glimmer of hope, even if it is green-washing.