美国国家公共电台 NPR--Sprite ditches its iconic green bottle — but environmentalists say it's not enough

Sprite ditches its iconic green bottle — but environmentalists say it's not enough

Transcript¹

On left, the classic green Sprite bottle. On the right, the new clear bottle.

Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; The Coca-Cola Co.

For more than 60 years, the soft drink Sprite has come packaged in iconic green bottles. Now, that era has come to an end.

Starting Aug. 1, the Coca-Cola Co., which produces Sprite, will package the lemon-lime drink in clear plastic bottles in North America, the company announced Wednesday.

By bottling Sprite in clear plastic, Coca-Cola says, the bottles will be able to be recycled more times. One goal, the company says, is to increase the supply of recycled plastic that the company can then use to make future bottles.

"Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material," Julian Ochoa, the CEO of R3CYCLE, a plastic recycling company working with Coca-Cola, said in a statement.

Sprite's green plastic bottles were already recyclable. But colored plastic bottles are typically separated from clear plastic bottles during the recycling process in order to keep the recycled plastic from becoming discolored, Coca-Cola said. The green Sprite bottles were more often recycled into things like clothes and carpeting, which are more difficult to recycle again.

Environmental groups say single-use plastic is the problem

Environmental organizations say the problem with Sprite bottles is not the color, but the material: single-use plastic.

"Coca-Cola's recent announcement is yet another blatant² greenwashing attempt from one of the world's worst plastic polluters," said Kate Melges, who leads the Plastics Project at Greenpeace. "We are in the midst of a massive plastic pollution crisis and we cannot recycle our way out of it."

Coca-Cola produces more than 100 billion plastic bottles every year, according to data it provided in 2019 to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, making it one of the world's largest producers of single-use plastic waste.

Soft drink bottles are usually made of a type of plastic called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. PET is lightweight, food-safe and recyclable — but like other plastics, PET can take hundreds of years to decompose³.

In the U.S., only about 29% of PET plastic is recycled, according to the EPA.

"Bottles with recycled content will still be thrown away, sent to landfills, or littered," said Matt Littlejohn of Oceana, an ocean conservation organization.

Concerns about single-use plastic have led to calls for food and beverage⁴ companies to increase sustainability by avoiding the creation of new plastic where possible.

Coca-Cola has previously⁵ pledged to boost sustainability

Coca-Cola has previously made a variety of sustainability pledges, including promises to increase the portion of its packaging that can be recycled — currently 90%, with a goal of 100% by 2025 — and to increase the percentage of recycled material used to make its packaging — currently 23%, with a goal of 50% by 2030.

In recent years, Coca-Cola has experimented with bottles made entirely⁶ of recyclable PET — also called rPET — along with the use of plant-based material.

"Demand for rPET currently exceeds supply, so the first step to scaling up use of 100% rPET across our portfolio⁷ is building a sustainable pipeline⁸ of high-quality material," said Chris Vallette, Coca-Cola's senior vice⁹ president of technical innovation and stewardship¹⁰.

The clear Sprite bottles were first introduced last year in a smaller, 13.2-oz bottle, in a handful of regions across the U.S.

Other Coca-Cola drinks that come in green plastic bottles — including Fresca, Seagram's and Mello Yello — will also transition to clear plastic bottles.

In the statement, the company also announced that its brand of bottled water, Dasani, will be packaged in bottles made entirely from recycled plastic. Coca-Cola estimates that will save more than 20 million pounds of newly created plastic compared to 2019 — a savings¹¹ that represents a tiny fraction of the company's overall plastic production.

Environmental organizations like Greenpeace and Oceana have called on the company to move from single-use plastic bottles to refillable bottles.

Coca-Cola says its goal is for at least 25% of its beverages¹² globally to be sold in reusable or returnable containers by 2030. That includes drinks sold at soda¹³ fountains and in glass bottles. Refillable and returnable packaging made up 16% of sales in 2020, the company says.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

3 decompose   

vi.分解；vt.（使）腐败，（使）腐烂

参考例句：

• The eggs began to decompose after a day in the sun.鸡蛋在太阳下放了一天后开始变坏。
• Most animals decompose very quickly after death.大多数动物死后很快腐烂。

4 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

8 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

11 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

12 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

13 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。