Canada’s 7UP in a ‘green’ bottle

Canada – PepsiCo Beverages Canada is set to launch its 7UP soft drink in bottles made from 100% recycled plastic. According to the drinks producer, the EcoGreen bottle will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used by approximately 6 million pounds over the course of one year. Based on current production levels, the introduction of the recycled bottle is expected to lead to reductions of 30% in greenhouse gas emissions and 55%-plus in energy usage.

The new bottle looks and feels the same as a regular soft drink bottle, and will be produced at numerous of PepsiCo’s manufacturing facilities across Canada. Creating a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic is more challenging for soft drinks than it is for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure. ‘After three years of research and development, we have cracked the code to commercially develop a soft drink bottle made from 100% recycled PET plastic, and Canada has proudly led the way,’ declares Richard Glover, President of PepsiCo Beverages Canada.

The company invested US$ 1 million in production enhancements at its facilities, including resin handling and inspection systems. Although there will be an incremental cost to produce the 7UP EcoGreen bottle, PepsiCo Beverages Canada plans to price the soft drink on a par with other brands.

According to PepsiCo Beverages Canada, it would like to use 100% recycled plastic across all of its brands but the marketplace does not produce sufficient quantities of recycled material to allow this. Aside from the new EcoGreen bottle, PepsiCo Canada uses an average of 10% recycled plastic in its primary soft drink bottles.