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Beverage bottle capacity, packaging efficiency, and the potential for plastic waste reduction
Summary
Researchers analyzed the relationship between plastic bottle size and the amount of plastic used per unit of beverage, finding that medium-sized bottles waste the most plastic per liter and that shifting American consumers toward larger bottles could cut PET plastic waste by over 10,000 tons per year.
Plastic pollution is a pressing issue because authorities struggle to contain and process the enormous amount of waste produced. We study the potential for reducing plastic waste by examining the efficiency with which different polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles deliver beverages. We find that 80% of the variation in bottle weight is explained by bottle capacity, 16% by product category, and 1% by brand. Bottle weight is quadratic and convex function of capacity, which implies that medium capacity bottles are most efficient at delivering consumable product. Local data on PET bottle sales and municipal waste recovery validate the findings. A 20% shift in consumption from smaller to larger bottles could reduce the production of PET waste by over 10,000 t annually in the U.S. alone.
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