For the next three months, Dasani won't be the only Coca-Cola brand using the company's eco-friendly plant bottle.
The Atlanta-based beverage giant said Friday it has begun distributing Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Mello Yello in plant bottles in Birmingham, Nashville and its hometown.
The move is part of a test of consumer desire for the plant bottle to be used with different brands, as well as suppliers ability to create the product. Coke is betting on plant bottles because 30 percent of the materials used to make them come from plant-based materials.
The test will run through the end of May.
Coke wants to increase use of the bottles throughout its product line, but does not have the production capability right now, said Scott Vitters, general manager of PlantBottle Platform for Coke.
The test will help leaders get a handle on which consumers of which brands are most excited. That could determine which brand is next distributed in the plant bottle.
The plant bottle packaging is used in all Dasani bottles in the United States. The packaging is extended to other brands in 20 markets outside the nation.
About 10 billion plant bottles have been released in the last two years globally, with 3 billion Dasani bottles using the plant packaging in the U.S., he said.
Sarah Cannon, a spokeswoman for Coke, said the company will measure the interests of consumers, retail outlets and suppliers through feedback at stores, on college campuses and on the Web at Coke.com/plantbottle.
Vitters said Coke wants to use plant bottles for all the company's products by 2020.
About the Author
