Coca-Cola announces huge change to Sprite bottles in Australia

After nearly 60 years, Coca-Cola Australia has announced a big change to the look of one of its most iconic products.

Coca-Cola Australia has announced a big change to the look of one of its most iconic products.

After nearly 60 years, Sprite’s plastic bottles will switch from green to clear, in hopes it will make it easier to recycle them locally, and increase the likelihood of them being repurposed into new bottles.

The current bottles feature green Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – which is remade into single use items such as clothes. Because of its colour, it can’t be recycled into new bottles.

“At Coca-Cola, we want our bottles to have more than one life,” Coca-Cola Australia marketing director, Kate Miller, said in a statement.

Ms Miller said the initiative will help “support recycling systems and give our bottles the best chance of being recycled and processed into new bottles locally”.

Sprite will no longer be housed in its iconic green plastic bottle in a bid to benefit the environment.

‘We know this is the right thing to do, as we support the transition to circularity for our packaging.’ Picture: Supplied

“All our Sprite bottles under one litre are already made from 100 per cent recycled PET plastic, excluding caps and labels,” she added.

“While Australians have known and loved Sprite in its iconic green bottle for nearly 60 years, we know this is the right thing to do, as we support the transition to circularity for our packaging.”

The move comes a year after the US arm of the global drinks company announced it would be doing the same.

Australia’s leading environmental behaviour change organisation, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, has welcomed the news and its potential impact on our nation’s plastics recycling.

“We all have a role to play in driving our transition to a circular economy in Australia, and this is a significant move by Coca-Cola Australia,” Planet Ark CEO, Rebecca Gilling, said.

“It’s critical that companies like Coca-Cola continue to invest in making sure their products have the best chance of being recycled. If bottles are collected and recycled and then turned into new bottles locally – this ultimately means less demand for new plastic, as well as reduced emissions.”

'It’s critical that companies like Coca-Cola continue to invest in making sure their products have the best chance of being recycled.' Picture: Getty

Ms Gilling pointed to Container Deposit Schemes – available or planned to launch in every state and territory – as an excellent means of ensuring clean recycling streams.

“Choosing to recycle plastic bottles via Container Deposit Schemes helps to keep them out of landfill and gives them the best chance of becoming another bottle,” she said.

“Keeping the collected material in Australia is essential to driving circular outcomes.”

The change to the bottles will affect all pack sizes of Sprite Classic bottles, and is expected to be complete by August as retailers sell through their existing stock.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners is also part of the Circular Plastics Australia joint venture – which, alongside PACT Group, Cleanaway Waste Management and Asahi Beverages, has invested in two recycling facilities that turn empty PET bottles into recycled content for new packages.

The state-of-the-art sites – one in Albury, NSW, and the other set to open in Altona, Victoria later this year – will have the capacity to recycle the equivalent of two billion 600ml PET plastic bottles annually.