PepsiCo unveiled yesterday the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully-renewable resources, affirming its status as a company committed to green efforts.

The bottle, which will debut in 2012, is 100% recyclable and is made from materials like switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. The company said in a statement it will expand the renewable sources used to include orange and potato peels, oat hulls and “other agricultural byproducts”.

PepsiCo claims the new bottle “looks, feels and protects its product identically to existing PET beverage containers”.

“PepsiCo is in a unique position…to ultimately source agricultural byproducts from our foods business to manufacture a more environmentally-preferable bottle for our beverages business,” said PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.

In February, the company debuted new biodegradable bags for its SunChips brand that uses similar plant-based materials that are 100% compostable.

“This is the beginning of the end of petroleum-based plastics,” a scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council told the AP. “When you have a company of this size making a commitment to a plant-based plastic, the market is going to respond.”

[via PepsiCo]


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