Our sugarcane partnerships

Coca-Cola’s latest packaging innovation is PlantBottle™ plastic. These plastic bottles, made using up to 22.5 per cent plant-based material and up to 25 per cent recycled plastic, are another step on our journey to creating truly petroleum-free packaging.

We teamed up with leading academic and NGO partners (non-governmental organisations, such as WWF) to search for a sustainable plant source to make our PlantBottle plastic one that wouldn’t harm the ecology or people of the region where it’s produced. The only source currently meeting these criteria is Brazilian sugarcane.

Did you know? By the end of 2011, we will have put over 5 billion PlantBottle packages on the market in 20 countries.

Coca-Cola is now one of the world’s biggest buyers of sugarcane. Every step of the way we want to ensure that we are working for the good of the environment. That’s why, together with UNICA, the trade body for many Brazilian sugarcane suppliers, we are a member of Bonsucro, a global non-profit organisation committed to the promotion of sustainable sugarcane production.

Bonsucro have been working towards accrediting sugarcane producers according to a set of environmental and social standards. Kevin Ogorzalek, Programme Officer for WWF and Chairman of the Bonsucro board, said: "This will change the sugarcane industry for ever. Certification will drive the industry to greater sustainability, thereby preserving natural resources while upholding human and labour rights."

Did you know? In June 2011, the first certified sugarcane from a mill in São Paolo, Brazil, was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company’s bottling system.

Suzanne Apple, the Vice President of WWF’s Business and Industry says: "We are pleased to be working with The Coca-Cola Company and its partners to integrate sustainability into the beverage industry and drive innovations like this through their supply chain, the broader industry and the world."