Dutch company Avantium is going to build a new bioplastic factory in Antwerp to manufacture what it calls ‘the PET bottle of the future’: the PEF bottle. PEF stands for ‘polyethylene furanoate’. The molecules used as building blocks for PEF bottles are plant-based (carbohydrates or sugars), in contrast to traditional PET bottles, which use petroleum as the main raw material (and whose manufacture adds to CO2 emissions). It might be only one letter difference in the chemical alphabet, but it means a world of difference for the world of packaging.
The advantages of PEF over PET are that it is 100% organic, stronger, and can store soft drinks longer. Cola can be kept in PEF for a year without any effect on the taste, because PEF retains the carbon dioxide bubbles longer and is more resistant to the harmful influence of air (oxygen). So, only benefits? No. A PEF bottle (just like a PET bottle) is not biodegradable, so it also has to be recycled. It does, however, represent an ecological step forward. PEF is also lighter than PET, which helps drive down transport costs.
Avantium is in negotiations with the German chemical group BASF on building the factory (planned for 2023 or 2024). The idea is to build the factory on the BASF site in Antwerp, where it could manufacture 50,000 tonnes of sugar-based sustainable bottles per year. This scale is crucial for the costs to come down to an attractive level for the soft drink industry (which has to make the switch from PET to PEF). This industry obviously holds the key to the success of the transition. The question is whether consumers are prepared to pay more for organic beverage packaging (we do pay more for organic meat, for example), and if the government is prepared to offer subsidies or impose a levy on PET bottles.
The packaging industry is expected to be completely ready to transition from PET to the more ecological PEF by 2028.