Sprite: “End of an era” for its green bottle after 60 years

“End of an era” for its iconic green bottle Sprite for… essentially green – environmental – reasons. Sprite is ditching the green bottle in support of the circular economy, according to an announcement from parent Coca-Cola.

From August 1stall new Sprite bottles (probably initially in the US market) will be clear.

The soft drink was launched in the United States in 1961, and quickly became popular with its distinctive green packaging. Today, Sprite is the third best-selling soft drink in the world and is Coca-Cola’s “number two” brand, behind only Coca-Cola. The company says it chose the clear plastic bottle to “support a circular economy for plastic packaging”. Sprite’s green PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are currently recyclable, but are more often only recycled into disposable items such as clothing and carpets, Coca-Cola explained. During the recycling sorting process, Sprite bottles and other colored plastics are separated from clear plastic items to prevent discoloration of the recycled material used for new PET bottles.

“The removal of colors from the bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, a PET recycling company working with Coca-Cola. “This transition will help increase the availability of food-grade rPET (recycled PET). When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be turned into bottles, contributing to the circular economy for plastic,” said Ochoa.

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