In what is an industry first, drinks manufacturer Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta / USA; www.thecoca-colacompany.com) has entered into a strategic partnership with food manufacturer H.J. Heinz Company (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania / USA; www.heinz.com), whereby the latter will be able to produce its ketchup bottles using Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle packaging.

First introduced by Coca-Cola in 2009 – see Plasteurope.com of 27.11.2009 – PlantBottle functions like traditional PET, but contains up to 30% plant-based material. The company currently sources sugarcane ethanol from Brazil for the bottle, the use of which slashes carbon impact by 12-19%.

Heinz is to launch PlantBottle in all its 20-ounce ketchup bottles in June this year, with plans to introduce some 120m such packages in 2011. Currently found in Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the US, Coca-Cola also is planning to expand PlantBottle to more than a dozen new markets this year. All in all, the drinks giant expects to use more than 5 bn PlantBottles this year. Coca-Cola recently announced plans to convert all its plastic packaging to PlantBottle by 2020 – see Plasteurope.com of 10.02.2011.