Coca-Cola is testing a new set of contoured aluminum bottles for it iconic namesake brand.
At the annual Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference here Coke is offering sleek new 250 ml aluminum bottles in red, black and silver for regular Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke.
A Coke spokesman said via email that the new bottles are a concept the company is "piloting."
"We wanted to provide the analysts (at the conference) with a snapshot of some of our ideas currently in the pipeline," he said. A sign by the vending machine at the Florida conference says that "the new design is a modern interpretation of the classic contour bottle in aluminum form." The new bottles aren't currently available in stores, but have appeared at select events and some night clubs.
The Coke spokesman said the success of the pilot programs would be one of the factors the company would consider before deciding if it wants to launch the new bottles nationally. He declined to say what the other determining factors would be.
-By Anjali Cordeiro, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2408; anjali.cordeiro@ dowjones.com
On the other side, listen to what Container Recycling Institute said about this new contour can ....
The Container Recycling Institute, today, announced a campaign to discourage Coke from going nationwide with their new can that's shaped like a contour bottle. "Coke's contour can," said Pat Franklin, Executive Director of CRI, "is costly to consumers and costly to the environment. All the consumer gets for the higher cost of the shapely, contour can is more waste and more pollution."
Franklin says the contour can holds the same amount of Coke Classic (12 fluid ounces) as Coke's standard aluminum cans, but is 8 mm taller and 2 grams heavier -- using 15 percent more aluminum than a regular, straight-walled Coke can. The shape of the can was inspired by the original contour glass Coca-Cola bottle, which according to the President of Coke USA, is "one of the world's most powerful equities with consumers."
"Mimicking the refillable, glass bottle, creates the image that the contour can is environmentally-friendly," said Franklin. "But in fact, the contour can creates more waste and more pollution and uses more water and more energy in its production than the standard can, and is many times more wasteful than the refillable glass bottle."
The new can is being marketed in Terre Haute, IN, the city where Coke's glass bottle was first patented in 1915, and four other cities: San Angelo, TX; Tucson and Sierra Vista, AZ and Las Cruces, NM. CRI has been organizing activists in the test-market cities, in an effort to discourage Coke from going nationwide with the can.
CRI estimates that the contour can will consume an additional 25 million pounds of aluminum a year, if it is introduced nationwide. With a 64 percent recycling rate, the institute estimates that approximately 9 million pounds will end up in landfills annually. CRI maintains that the introduction of the contour can flies in the face of the Coca-Cola Co.'s "commitment to the environment", as expressed in their publication, The Coca-Cola Company & The Environment. In that publication they declare, ". . . we have a responsibility to the billions of people . . . and that responsibility includes conducting our business in ways that protect and preserve the environment."
"If Coke goes to the national market with the contour can," said Franklin, "it will reverse the environmental policy of the world's leading soft drink manufacturer, and turn the clock backwards on source reduction."
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NOTE: CRI is encouraging consumers to do four things to help prevent nationwide marketing of Coke's contour can.
1. Sign a petition showing their opposition to Coke's newest package
2. Write a letter to the editor of their local newspaper,
3. Send a check to 'Kick the Can Campaign', c/o The Container Recycling Institute
4. DON'T BUY COKE IN CONTOUR CANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Container Recycling Institute1911 Ft. Myer Drive, Suite 900Arlington, Virginia 22209703/276-9800 fax 276-9587
4 Comments:
The CRI is totally out of wack with this issue, good on ya coke. The fact that the bottle uses more metal than the can is not the issue, the issue is it replaces plasics. Both the can and bottle are 100% recyclable. Coke has reverted back to glass packaging also but now needs to apply a return levy on glass to encorage its return and recyling. The cans have a value in recycling already as the metal Aluminum. Get educated CRI and do your job, replace plasic and back people like coke who are doing this.
CRI is 100% on-target with this. Rather than market a bottle that takes 2 giant steps backwards by using more materials & more energy to produce, why doesn't Coke show some industry-leading innovation and market something that actually ENCOURAGES recycling and REDUCES waste.
Nice post about Aluminum Bottles. We are also Manufacturer & Supplier and Exporter of Aluminum Bottles in India
Hello, Really a nice and fantastic post on aluminum product and many more good information, hope to see more posts
thanks for posting
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