PET, the world’s most recycled plastic, comprises two molecules: approximately 30% monoethylene glycol (MEG) and 70% terephthalic acid (PTA). The original PlantBottle™, introduced in 2009, includes MEG from sugarcane, but the PTA has been from oil-based sources until now. PlantBottle™ packaging looks, functions and recycles like traditional PET but has a lighter footprint on the planet and its resources.

Artist's impression of The Wood Tech Group's new headquarters to be built on the Hemmant, QLD site included in the acquisition.

"Our message to Australian companies is clear: if you’re looking to reshore your manufacturing, speak to us. Our technology investment makes it viable for you to provide Australian made products to your customers."

"The existing Rogers’ business will expand with further investment, plus our new in-house capabilities will complement existing business units, with machinery spare parts manufactured locally, plus expansion of Australian PPE production.

In Western Europe and Japan, Coca‑Cola, with its bottling partners, aims to eliminate the use of oil-based virgin PET from plastic bottles altogether by 2030, using only recycled or renewable materials. While the majority of plastic packaging material will come from mechanically recycled content, some “virgin” material will still be needed to maintain quality standards. That’s why Coca‑Cola is investing in and driving innovation to boost the supply of feedstock from renewable technologies as well as from enhanced recycling technologies. Enhanced recycling “upcycles” previously used PET plastics of any quality to high quality, food grade PET.

The acquisition of Rogers Industries’ plastics division will soon allow new product development into face shields, helmets, hard hats and safety glasses.

Since introducing PlantBottle™, Coca‑Cola has allowed non-competitive companies to use the technology and brand in their products—from Heinz Ketchup to the fabric interior in Ford Fusion hybrid cars. In 2018, the company opened up the PlantBottle™ IP more broadly to competitors in the beverage industry to scale up demand and drive down pricing.

Manufacturer The Wood Tech Group will strengthen its diversification into personal protective equipment (PPE) with the $12 million acquisition of Rogers Industries, an industry leader in plastic injection moulding and aluminum die casting services.

The second breakthrough technology, which The Coca‑Cola Company co-owns with Changchun Meihe Science & Technology, streamlines the bMEG production process and also allows for flexibility in feedstock, meaning more types of renewable materials can be used. Typically, bMEG is produced by converting sugarcane or corn into bioethanol as an intermediate, which is subsequently converted to bioethylene glycol. Now, sugar sources can directly produce MEG, resulting in a simpler process. UPM, the technology’s first licensee, is currently building a full-scale commercial facility in Germany to convert certified sustainably sourced hardwood feedstock taken from sawmill and other wood industry side-streams to bMEG. This marks a significant milestone toward the commercialization of the technology.

The business is expected to announce multiple new positions over the next six months at its Brisbane-based headquarters.

Both companies are based on Brisbane's southside, with the transaction also including the transfer of 17,000 square metres of land near the Port of Brisbane to be redeveloped as Wood Tech's new headquarters including a technology and innovation centre where inventors, designers and engineers will be invited to collaborate.

The group plans to invest $3 million in the 2,500sqm purpose-built office, plus a $1.5 million investment in new ISO cleanrooms, automated production lines and a quality testing facility for face masks and other PPE.

"The move to acquire and integrate the Rogers business into the broader Wood Tech Group is an investment and confidence in local manufacturing, right here in Brisbane," says the group's managing director Ron Smyth.

“The inherent challenge with going through bioethanol is that you are competing with fuel,” said Dana Breed, Global R&D Director, Packaging and Sustainability, The Coca‑Cola Company. “We needed a next-generation MEG solution that addressed this challenge, but also one that could use second generation feedstock like forestry waste or agricultural byproducts. Our goal for plant-based PET is to use surplus agricultural products to minimize carbon footprint, so the combination of technologies brought by the partners for commercialization is an ideal fit with this strategy.”

In 2015, Coca‑Cola unveiled its first prototype for a 100% bio-based PlantBottleTM at the Milan Expo using lab-scale production methods to produce bPX. This next-generation 100% plant-based bottle, however, has been made using new technologies to produce both biochemicals that make the bottle and are ready for commercial scaling.

“We have been working with technology partners for many years to develop the right technologies to create a bottle with 100% plant-based content—aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint—and it’s exciting that we have reached a point where these technologies exist and can be scaled by participants in the value chain,” said Nancy Quan, Chief Technical and Innovation Officer, The Coca‑Cola Company.

While Wood Tech is known as a national supplier of woodworking, stone and glass processing equipment, last year it launched a PPE Tech division to locally manufacture millions of P2 face masks for industry and government.

The Coca‑Cola Company’s sustainable packaging journey crosses a major milestone this week with the unveiling of the first-ever beverage bottle made from 100% plant-based plastic, excluding the cap and label. The breakthrough technologies used to produce the prototype are ready for commercial scale, more than a decade after the company’s PlantBottle™ debuted as the world’s first recyclable PET plastic bottle made with up to 30% plant-based material. A limited run of approximately 900 of the prototype bottles have been produced.

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Coca‑Cola’s new prototype plant-based bottle is made from plant-based paraxylene (bPX) - using a new process by Virent - which has been converted to plant-based terephthalic acid (bPTA).  As the first beverage packaging material resulting from bPX produced at demonstration scale, this new technology signals a step change in the commercial viability of the biomaterial. The bPX for this bottle was produced using sugar from corn, though the process lends itself to flexibility in feedstock.

This innovation supports the World Without Waste vision, specifically the recently announced target to use 3 million tons less of virgin plastic from oil-based sources by 2025. The Coca‑Cola Company will pursue this 20% reduction by investing in new recycling technologies like enhanced recycling, packaging improvements such as light-weighting, alternative business models such as refillable, dispensed and fountain systems, as well as the development of new renewable materials.

“We are taking significant steps to reduce use of ‘virgin’, oil-based plastic, as we work toward a circular economy and in support of a shared ambition of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” Quan said. “We see plant-based plastics as playing a critical role in our overall PET mix in the future, supporting our objectives to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce our reliance on ‘virgin’ fossil fuels and boost collection of PET in support of a circular economy.”

Employees currently operate from five sites including Mansfield (QLD), Wetherill Park (NSW), Derrimut (VIC), Edwardstown (SA) and Gnangara (WA), with Wood Tech emphasising all existing sites will continue to operate locally.

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As part of its World Without Waste vision, Coca‑Cola is working to make all its packaging more sustainable, including maximizing use of recycled and renewable content while minimizing use of virgin, fossil material. The company has pledged to collect back the equivalent of every bottle it sells by 2030, so none of its packaging ends up as waste and old bottles are recycled into new ones; to make 100% of its packaging recyclable; and to ensure 50% of its packaging comes from recycled material.

“Our goal is to develop sustainable solutions for the entire industry,” Breed said. “We want other companies to join us and move forward, collectively.”