Q. What was the Sprite ‘label-less’ trial?

A. In January 2024, we launched a temporary UK trial to strip off the labels from our 500ml Sprite bottles to help simplify the recycling process. By removing the labels, we removed the need to separate them from the bottles during the recycling process.

The iconic taste of Sprite Regular and Sprite Zero Sugar remained exactly the same, but these new trial bottles featured an embossed logo on the front of the pack and laser-engraved product information on the back. And just like our existing bottles, they came in a clear, 100% recycled PET bottle* with an attached cap. For the purposes of this trial only, the traffic light labels weren’t visible on the trial bottles, however all of this information was instead made available through a QR code that was laser engraved on the bottle.  

This trial saw the labels stripped off our on-the-go 500ml Sprite and Sprite Zero bottles at eight Tesco Express Stores in Brighton and Hove, Bristol, London, and Manchester between January and March 2024. By placing label-less bottles in stores for the first time, we wanted to understand how people reacted to the new design, and whether any further changes were needed to help people find and identify their favourite Sprite products without the usual labels.

Out of the eight trial stores across Brighton and Hove, Bristol, London, or Manchester – four stores stocked the product with accompanying point of sales materials and signage, and the remaining four stores stocked the label-less product with no additional marketing. An additional store in each region did not stock the label-less product, but was used as a point of comparison throughout the trial. This enabled us to directly assess the impact of the new bottles, and to see what our retailers and consumers thought.

*Excluding cap

 

Q. How did the Sprite bottles change, as a part of the trial?

A. As a part of this temporary UK trial, although the size and shape of the 500ml Sprite Regular and Sprite Zero bottles remained the same as the ones you were  used to seeing in-store, we stripped off their labels to help simplify the recycling process.

In place of the label, the bottles featured an embossed logo on the front of the pack and laser-engraved product information on the back. And, just like our existing bottles, they came in a clear 100% recycled PET bottle* with an attached cap. We also cleverly laser etched all the valuable information you’d expect to see on a label on to the back of the bottle, which doesn’t interfere with the recycling process. For the purposes of this trial only, the traffic light labels weren’t visible on the bottles, however all of this information was made available through a QR code that was laser engraved on the bottle.  

Our trial label-less bottles came in single, 500ml formats for both Sprite and Sprite Zero. The two variants were easily distinguished by their caps, which came in green for Sprite and transparent for Sprite Zero. The bottles were easily spotted  on shelves by their distinctive Heritage Sprite bottle design, with full body dimples and a texturised logo on the neck.

*Excluding cap

 

Q. Why did Coca‑Cola choose to remove the labels from Sprite bottles?

A. Although the plastic labels that are around our current bottles are recyclable, by removing the labels, we removed the need to separate them from the bottles during the recycling process – a simpler design we wanted to trial with consumers. As such, we stripped off the labels from our 500ml Sprite bottles to help simplify the recycling process.

This temporary UK trial was just one of the ways we’re looking to help simplify the recycling process, and support a circular system where more old bottles are turned into new ones. Through Sprite, we’ve tested and launched new ways to evolve our bottle design while ensuring that more of our plastic can be recycled. Recent changes include reducing the use of coloured rPET and introducing attached caps to our bottles. These are all important ways that we aim to minimise the impact of our packaging on the environment.

 

Q. Why wasn’t this trial run on other Coca‑Cola bottles?

A. This design change was one of many we are trialling across our range of drinks. These trials often start small, on one of our products, so that we can capture learnings and understand if, and how, they can be scaled.

Through Sprite, we’ve tested and launched many packaging innovations, to help reduce waste and simplify the recycling process. Small trials - just like this one - have preceded some recent changes to our Sprite bottles, including:

Reducing the use of coloured rPET in our packaging, turning Sprite bottles - and others in our range - from green to clear, to make our bottles easier to recycle back into bottles.

Introducing attached caps to our bottles, ensuring that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, to reduce the potential for it to be littered and makes it easier to collect the whole bottle for recycling.

We are also investing in new designs to reduce the amount of packaging we use; creating lightweight bottles and cutting the materials we use when we’re packing our products up and sending them out to stores. And, in the longer term, we are looking at different ways of delivering our drinks to consumers - such as with refillable packaging and dispense systems.

Through our ambitious World Without Waste strategy, we want to reduce the amount of packaging we use, by focusing on innovation and by collecting and recycling one bottle or can for each one we sell, by 2030.

 

Q. Did the taste of Sprite change, as a part of this trial?

A. No, the iconic taste of Sprite Regular and Sprite Zero Sugar stayed exactly the same.

 

Q. Where and when were the Sprite Label-less bottles on shelves in GB?

A. The Sprite Label-less bottles were available at eight Tesco Express Stores in Brighton and Hove, Bristol, London, or Manchester between January and April 2024. They are no longer available in those stores.

 

Q. Why did you introduce the Label-less bottles as a trial, rather than a permanent change?

A. The process of making any change to our products is complex and requires significant testing. By running this temporary UK trial on our 500ml bottles, we wanted to assess the impact of the new bottle, and see what our retailers and consumers thought. We also needed the learnings from the trial to better understand if - and how - it could be scaled.

 

Q. How long did the trial last?

A. The trial lasted from January until April 2024.

 

Q. Did these label-less bottles cost more than the regular Sprite variant?

A. No, we kept the cost of our trial bottles the same as the current  500ml bottles of Sprite Regular and Sprite Zero. As with all of our products, pricing is at the discretion of the retailer.

 

Q. Has Coca‑Cola run similar trial schemes in the past? If so, have many of them been successfully rolled-out at a larger scale?

A. This temporary UK trial was one of many that Coca‑Cola has run across our range of drinks. In fact, we’ve run label-less trials in other key markets around the world – with Sprite in South Korea, Coca‑Cola in Japan, and with Valser water in Switzerland, to capture important learnings about label-less bottles through these trials. Unique to this trial was that it was the first time we’d trialed label-less on a single-unit on-the-go 500ml bottle sold in-store. Other label-less trials have either been on multi-pack products - where labelling information was moved to the outer packaging - or, on single-unit bottles sold online - where labelling information appeared at the point of sale online.

Finding new ways to evolve our bottle design, help simplify the recycling process and reduce waste are important steps we’re taking to minimise the impact of our packaging on the environment. In fact, small trials - just like this one - have preceded some recent changes to our Sprite bottles, including:

Reducing the use of coloured rPET in our packaging, turning Sprite bottles - and others in our range - from green to clear, to make our bottles easier to recycle back into bottles.

Introducing attached caps to our bottles, ensuring that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, to reduce the potential for it to be littered and makes it easier to collect the whole bottle for recycling.

We have also run trials that haven’t led to immediate product changes. These trials have still provided us with valuable learnings about potential future changes. They include:

Collaborating with industry partners to turn ocean plastic waste into high quality rPET, that can be used for food and drink packaging. Although there isn’t enough material to produce these bottles at scale, we are investing in this technology further to identify ways of targeting plastics that are more complicated to recycle.

We are an official partner of Danish start-up Paboco, who we continue to work with on the development of an 100% paper bottle. Although this technology is in its early stages, and not currently scalable, it’s something that we’re investing in, and hope has a role to play in the future of our packaging.

We are also investing in new designs to reduce the amount of packaging we use, creating lightweight bottles and reducing the materials we use when we’re packing up and sending out to stores. And, in the longer term, we are looking at different ways of delivering our drinks to consumers such as with refillable packaging and dispense systems.

 

Q. The Sprite label-less advert said ‘Naked For Now’, what did that mean?

A. We included ‘Naked For Now’ in the Sprite label-less adverts to help to explain that we we were stripping off our labels, and that it was, for now, just a temporary UK trial, rather than a permanent change to our product packaging.

 

Q. If this trial is found to have been unsuccessful, what will happen to this innovation – is this the end for label-less bottles?

A. It’s hard to comment before the results have been fully assessed. As a part of the trial, we want to assess the impact of the new 500ml bottle, and see what our retailers and consumers thought.  If it is unsuccessful, we will feed any insights into future innovations and trials.

 

Q. How else has the Sprite bottle changed in recent years?

This trial was just the latest change we have made to Sprite bottles, and others across our range of drinks, in order to help simplify the recycling process and reduce waste.

For example, we have reduced the use of coloured rPET in our packaging, to make our bottles easier to recycle back into bottles; turning Sprite bottles and others in our range from green to clear. And, last year we introduced attached caps to our bottles, ensuring that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, to reduce the potential for it to be littered and makes it easier to collect the whole bottle for recycling.

We are also investing in new designs to reduce the amount of packaging we use, creating lightweight bottles and reducing the materials we use when we’re packing up and sending out to stores. And, in the longer term we are looking at different ways of delivering our drinks to consumers such as with refillable packaging and dispense systems.