ISRI recognizes Coca-Cola's innovative Plant Bottle™ with design for Recycling® Award

ISRI established the Design for Recycling® award to honor a program, company or individual whose product or program design has incorporated one or more of the following: A reduction in the number of different recyclable materials A reduction or elimination of hazardous constituents An increased yield of the product's recyclables An improvement in the safety of recycling A design that allows for easy disassembly for recycling Coca-Cola is the fourth recipient of the Design for Recycling® award given by ISRI. In 2009, furniture manufacturer Herman Miller was recognized for designing its products from inception to be recycled, eliminating waste in the manufacturing process and for collaborating with ISRI members in the design process. The Environmental Protection Agency was honored in 2006 for its overall leadership in creating innovative design partnerships, and its dedication to empower businesses and industry sectors to incorporate environmental considerations, along with performance and cost considerations, into decision-making processes. Computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard was honored in 2005 for its documented efforts to reduce the use of hazardous substances, to simplify component design, and to build computers and printing products for easy disassembly and recyclingCoca-Cola has demonstrated dynamic leadership in package design, continually developing beverage containers that are effective, efficient, and designed for recycling, said ISRI Chairman John Sacco, president of Sierra Recycling and Demolition. The PlantBottle™, Coca-Cola's most recent innovation, utilizes renewable resources and is 100% recyclable. This new generation of PET plastic made partially from plants also is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the package—further demonstration of how design for recycling positively impacts the environment. John Burgess, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Recycling LLC and vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world's largest marketer, producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products, accepted the award on behalf of the Coca-Cola system. Coca-Cola Recycling, a member of ISRI, was created in 2007 to support Coca-Cola's goal of recycling the equivalent of 100% of Coke packaging sold in North America. Through consumer education, improved access to recycling, recovery initiatives, and internal recycling programs, Coca-Cola Recycling has helped the Coke system recycle more than 500 million pounds of packaging materials to date. We are honored to accept this award on behalf of the Coca-Cola system, and we are proud to be associated with an organization such as ISRI that is dedicated to increasing recycling, said Burgess. We are working to create a business environment where our used packaging is not regarded as waste, but as a valuable resource. It takes the cooperation of businesses at all stages of the product life-cycle to make that vision a reality. For more than two decades, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. has promoted Design for Recycling®, a voluntary program that encourages manufacturers to fully consider end-of-life recyclability in the earliest stages of product design.ISRI Chair George Adams presents John Burgess, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Recycling, with ISRI's Design for Recycling® Award at the general session of Saurday, May 8 at the ISRI Convention & Exposition at the San Diego Convention Center.   The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) today presented its Design for Recycling® Award to The Coca-Cola Company during the closing general session at ISRI's annual convention. The Coca-Cola Company, the world’s largest beverage company, earned the recognition for its commitment to reduce the amount of petroleum used in plastic beverage bottles and to ensure packaging is 100% recyclable. Coca-Cola recently introduced PlantBottle™, a revolutionary new PET bottle made with up to 30 percent of its material derived from plants. PlantBottle™ packaging has the same performance as traditional PET plastic bottles; there are no differences in recyclability, chemical composition, shelf life, weight or appearance compared with traditional PET plastic bottles. But by replacing a portion of the petroleum with plant-based materials, Coca-Cola is able to reduce the use of a non-renewable resource.  PlantBottle™ is made through an innovative process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic that is fully recyclable back into food-grade containers.