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Coca-Cola has unveiled plans to move its soft drinks to bottles made from a PET material that is partially derived from plants, and set a target of two billion bottles by the end of next year.

The company's PlantBottle packaging is partially manufactured from PET plastic developed from sugar cane and molasses crops destined to become ethanol. It is being introduced to selected product ranges.

The soft-drinks giant will bottle a range of its key brands, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fresca and Dasani, in the new packaging across Denmark, Canada, and the US.

It also plans to switch packaging in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and China's Shanghai Expo in 2010 to the material to meet its target of two billion bottles by the end of 2010.

"Today we are taking a major step along our sustainable packaging journey as the Coca-Cola Company becomes the first to market with a recyclable PET bottle made partially from plants," said Coca-Cola Company chief executive Muhtar Kent.

"From Coke brands in Copenhagen to Dasani water in the Western United States, we are starting to roll out the first generation of the bottle of the future."

Coca-Cola is currently sourcing the raw materials from suppliers in Brazil.

The proportion of bio-based components in the plant-based PET differs between countries. For example, in the US and Canada the material contains up to 30% plant content.

Director of sustainable packaging at Coca-Cola Scott Vitters said: "Our vision is to continue innovating to achieve a bottle that is made with 100% plant-waste material while remaining completely recyclable."

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