(Ceepackaging) -- As if a legal case between Coca-Cola and Pepsi was not enough, the two rivals who have been fighting it out for as long as anyone can remember are not just competing on the taste in the bottles but are now competing about what is in their packaging.
In 2009, the Coca-Cola Co. said it would sell its Dasani water products in bottles containing up to 30 percent sugarcane-based polyethylene terephthalate plastic. It touted the ⌠PlantBottle as the latest in eco-friendly food packaging. Then PepsiCo said it had developed PET containers that were 100 percent petroleum-free.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle on 27 September, the beverage industry is not alone in the race to produce the greenest consumer product packaging. The trend has spread across grocery shelves to ketchup bottles, shampoo containers, chip bags and even cell phone accessories.
The most common forms of plastic packaging are crafted from natural gas and crude oil, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Plastics account for about 4 percent of the world's petroleum use, according to the PET Resin Association. The petrochemical industry uses a chemical process to turn petroleum gases and liquids into solid plastics that offer a spectrum of thickness and durability, from plastic bags to milk jugs.
So far, the nascent bioplastics industry has hardly encroached on that petroleum dependency. Less than 1 percent of plastics used in the USA come from biological sources like sugarcane and corn, said Melissa Hockstad, vice president of science technology and regulatory affairs for the Society of the Plastics Industry and quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle.
MRC