Paper bottle with PEF prototype
Source: Avantium

Last week, The Guardian reported on an interesting project, which has a great potential to revolutionize the beverage industry. The Dutch renewable chemicals company Avantium developed a bio-based plastic bottle made from PEF, which could substitute the conventional plastic bottles made from fossil resources. The bioplastic bottle is designed to fully degrade within a year in a composter and would require a few years longer under normal outdoor conditions if falsely littered into the environment. According to Avantium’s chief executive, Tom van Aken, ideally the bottle should be recycled.

Avantium is currently working on attracting investment capital. The brewing company Carlsberg already joined the group of supporting companies and expects to offer its liquid golden product in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of bio-based PEF. Recently, Coca-Cola and the food company Danone also came on board. In a first project phase, Avantium plans to produce 5,000 tonnes of bio-based plastic annually, using sugar, maize, wheat or beets, so called first generation renewable feedstock. In the long term, the plant sugar should also be derived from second g