Pepsi is introducing its lightest 500ml flavored non-carbonated beverage bottle yet. The company has reduced the plastic in this bottle by 20%, which will eliminate approximately 20 million pounds of waste from the environment. The lighter bottles will begin hitting store shelves this month.

Environmental Expert reports that the new bottle will be launched in one of the beverage industry‘‘s fastest growing segments through established trademarks of Lipton Iced Tea, Tropicana juice drinks, Aquafina FlavorSplash and Aquafina Alive. It will be available in 12-packs and 24-packs. In addition to a 20% reduction in the plastic resin, there will be a 10% reduction in the label size and a 5% reduction in the shrink wrap film used to wrap the multi-packs.

"As a company, we‘‘ve challenged ourselves to consistently identify ways to lessen our impact on the environment and in this case we‘‘re doing a little ‘‘plastic surgery,‘‘" said Robert Lewis, VP of Worldwide Beverage Packaging and Equipment Development, PepsiCo. "We‘‘re constantly striving to make our packaging an even smaller part of the waste stream and this new bottle is just one of many examples."

Led by Pepsi-Cola North America‘‘s packaging development team, the effort to lightweight the bottles is an example of PepsiCo‘‘s commitment to "Performance with Purpose," a mission to improve all aspects of the world in which the business operates. For this project, it meant looking at the packaging with a critical eye, driving it towards minimalism without sacrificing design, functionality or taste.

"The challenge was to deliver significantly lighter packaging that would provide the same shelf life as the heavier bottle, withstand the manufacturing and distribution process yet not compromise aesthetics," said Lewis. "After a full year of hard work from multiple corners of the company, we hit the trifecta- a bottle that satisfied the needs of our system, our consumers and the environment."

A cross-functional team of experts from within and outside the company brought this project to life though consumer interaction. After fielding over 30 aesthetic designs in consumer testing, a multi-disciplinary team worked together to develop the lightweight package in-market today.