Sprite is the 6th best-selling soda in the world and has been consistently making the Top 10 since the 1960s. A simple citrus-flavored soft drink, they weren’t anything special. But their bright green plastic packaging was different from anything else on the shelf. It looked more appetizing than it would have looked without the green bottle. So why did they change it?

Sprite says that their Lemon-Lime drink will “now [be] made with clear plastic to help this bottle be re-made”. Clear plastic is a better material to be recycled than colored plastic because less energy needs to be used in the dying of color and further organization. The billions of Sprite bottles that will and have been produced since August 1st, 2022, can now be used more efficiently.

However, many sources have been suspicious about whether Sprite truly has good intentions. The manufacture of green plastic has very similar carbon emissions to the manufacture of clear plastic, so there isn’t any difference there. The Coca Cola Company stated that the recycling benefits were the true reason for the change. But recycling plants sort the plastics by color anyway, and reducing just green plastics won’t have that big of an effect. People have suspicions that The Coca Cola Company simply wants their Sprite bottles to be less recognizable. Take this image, for example.

A majority of the bottles are clear. They could be from any brand, so without labels, no company can be blamed. The second most common color? Green. And when you see green bottles, you can immediately blame Coca-Cola for their Sprite bottles. Now that Sprite also has clear bottles, they can join the majority and won’t be singled out anymore.

Sprite is always going to be a part of the biggest soft drink manufacturer in the world, Coca-Cola. They might make it look like they want to help out, but they are targeting the lesser informed. Stay knowledgable and healthy!

Sources:
https://www.sprite.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(drink)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/business/sprite-green-bottle/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sprite-retiring-iconic-green-plastic-bottle-60-years-rcna40396