Five leading US global companies, including Coca-Cola and Ford, unveiled Tuesday a joint effort to develop 100 percent plant-based plastics in their products, cutting the use of fossil fuels. Coca-Cola, Ford, Heinz, Nike and Procter & Gamble said they were launching a working group focused on speeding up the development and use of 100 percent plant-based PET plastic.
PET, also known as polyethylene terephthalate, is a durable, lightweight plastic. All five companies use PET based on fossil fuels like oil in bottles, apparel, footwear and automotive fabric and carpet. The companies pledged in a joint statement "to champion and support research, expand knowledge and accelerate technology development to enable commercially viable, more sustainably sourced, 100 percent plant-based PET plastic while reducing the use of fossil fuels." The jump on the green bandwagon came after PepsiCo, Coke's arch-rival, announced in March 2011 it had developed the world's first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plants.