The end of plastic bottles?

The end of the plastic bottle? - 22nd May 2020

There could be a new type of bottle for your drinks soon. The new bottle uses plastic made from plant sugars.

Coca Cola, Carlsberg and L'Oreal are some of the companies interested in the 'Paper Bottle Project'.

The new bottles will have two parts. It will be paper on the outside and the new plastic on the inside. The plastic is strong enough to hold drinks and it keeps them cold. After you finish your drink, you can separate the two parts. Then, you can easily recycle the bottle.

Three companies make the bottles: Avantium provides the chemicals, BillerudKorsnas designs the packaging and Alpla makes the bottles. The companies want to reduce plastic pollution.

Around the world, companies make around 300 million tonnes of plastic every year. Most of this plastic is not recycled. A lot of the plastic pollutes the ocean. This makes climate change worse.

Avantium's boss, Tom van Aken, says lockdown has slowed the project. The company hopes the new plastic bottles will be ready by 2023.