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Friendly Plastic Pop Can Nearly Ready for Market
drfishy writes "BevNET has the story of Toledo, OH based Owens-Illinois and their new pop can. The can is made of a "fancy" new clear plastic with a traditional aluminum top and should be in stores sometime this year. Consumers are supposed to like it because of the "cool" factor, manufacturers will like it because they can use the same equipment to fill and package them, beverage companies like it because consumers and manufacturers will, and advertising agencies love it because they can get rich making all new commercials to convince people it really is cool. Seriously though, I like the idea, enough to submit a story about it anyway..."
They declared bankrupcy after a huge loss in a class-action asbestos lawsuit. Then they went on to simply not pay many small design firms they owed money to. Pretty much puta few of them out of business. It was right around Christmas time too.
Anyone think they'll pay these firms pay after plastic pop cans become all the rage? Yeah, me neither...
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This can may be new to the market, but it's not a new design. I held a prototype of this exact can (plastic body, aluminum top) while visiting a friend that worked at a 7UP plant back in the early 1980s, twenty years ago. The can was clear green plastic with the 7UP paint job. It was empty, but sealed.
Before the soda connoisseurs get on here and try to tell us they're not gonna like these because the soda from the metal cans tastes better than the soda from the plastic bottles, keep in mind the aluminum cans' interiors are coated with some sort of plastic material.
Otherwise the carbonic acid would react with the aluminum, and leave you with a nasty taste (I believe due to Aluminum Oxide? but its been a while since high school Chemistry).
"And like that
I was about to post the same issue ... with my recycler, I have to separate plastics and aluminum before taking them to the drop off.
Anyone know which is more environmentally sound to recycle: plastic or aluminum? I would have guessed the aluminum requires less energy and releases fewer gasses than plastic, but I'm not sure.
If it's a matter of making the can cheaper to manufacture but more expensive to recycle, sorry, but I would rather the manufacturer pay for it than my local co-op recycler.
If there is no downside to the recycling (and separation is still an issue) then it's a neat concept, but I just feel like aluminum is the more ecologically sound method right now. I would love to be proved wrong.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
AFAIK, "Multi-layer injection molded" plastic is not really recyclable at all. Maybe they can melt it down and use it for plastic packing bubbles or something where the properties of the plastic don't matter much. But when you take a piece of "Multi-layer injection molded" plastic and melt it down the layers all melt together like a soup, their different properties mingling together into a plastic "grunge" that isn't usable for much. There is no way to seperate the layers and end up with anything like what you started with, i.e, make another can out of them.
That is, this product is FAR less recyclable than aluminum cans.
As far as I know that is, I'm no expert.
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Yeah the technology is definately not new, this has been the standard format for tennis ball cans for well over a decade. The question is market acceptance and given the recycling concerns, I can't see that being too great.
You can already get beer in plastic bottles in the US but most people think the beer will not taste as good (for the Miller, Lite, and MGD brands that use the technology, taste isn't really a concern anyway - but somehow these consumers consider themselves beer conoisseurs if you change the bottling material). So given the limited acceptance of plastic bottles I've only seen them at sporting events where it is prefereable not to arm potentially drunken disgruntled fans with glass missiles just in case the home team loses.
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In Japan, you can buy bottles made completely out of aluminum. It's an aluminum can narrowing into a neck at the top with a traditional metal twist-off cap, and it's got a sticker around it which looks much like the decoration on a standard Coke can.
Anyone know which is more environmentally sound to recycle: plastic or aluminum? I would have guessed the aluminum requires less energy and releases fewer gasses than plastic, but I'm not sure.
Aluminum. Virgin aluminum is a bitch on the environment (in terms of pollutants and land use), recycled is a hell of a lot better. Of course, recycled plastic is even better than that.
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By the way, where i live its not "coke" and not pop (doesn't matter if its sprite, dr pepper, or coca cola)
Where exactly is this? I've always wondered. You see, I've lived in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola, for six years, and I've never seen anyone call any non-cola beverage a Coke. I've seen Pepsi, RC, and hundreds of knock-off store brand colas called Coke, but I've never heard a Sprite, a Dr. Pepper, or anything else called a Coke.
Personally, I think the whole "everything's a Coke" bit is an urban legend.
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