Coca-Cola reveals major change to popular soft drink Sprite

An iconic soft drink adored by millions of Aussies will soon look very different and its maker says it’s “the right thing to do”.

One of Australia’s most popular soft drink brands is on the cusp of a major shake-up after almost 60 years on store shelves.

Coca-Cola Australia revealed on Wednesday that its popular soft drink Sprite would be ditching its iconic green packaging.

Instead, the sparkling lemonade will soon be packaged in a clear plastic bottle in a bid to make it easier to recycle.

Coke marketing director Kate Miller said that while people were familiar with the green bottle, the switch was the “right thing to do”.

“We want our bottles to have more than one life,” Ms Miller said.

“This initiative helps to support recycling systems.

Sprite will soon be shipped in clear plastic bottles, ditching the iconic green colour. Picture: Supplied

The green bottle will be no more. Picture: Barry Pascoe

“It gives our bottles the best chance of being recycled and processed into new bottles locally.”

Ms Miller said the all Sprite products under 1L were already made from 100 per cent recycled PET plastic, excluding caps and labels.

Planet Ark chief executive Rebecca Gilling said it was critical that companies helped make sure their products had the best chance of being recycled

“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,” she said.

“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 carbon emissions.”

The change is aimed at making the bottle easier to recycle locally. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

The move comes more than a year after Circular Plastics Australia opened its first state-of-the-art PET recycling site in Albury in southern NSW.

The site, founded in partnership between Cleanaway, Asahi Beverages, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, and the PACT Group, turns empty PET bottles into recycled content for new packages.

A second facility will open in Altona, Victoria in late 2023, contributing to a combined capacity to recycle the equivalent of two billion 600ml PET plastic bottles each year.

It comes two years after Indonesia and the Philippines, two previous destinations for Australian recycling, began turning away shipments of recycling waste.

Both countries cited contamination concerns and the material not meeting import requirements.