Coke says Sprite will drop iconic green bottle in nod to environmentalism

The Coca-Cola Company said this week that Sprite, one of its flagship soda brands, will lose its iconic green packaging in favor of clear, more environmentally friendly plastic. 

The company will reportedly save millions of pounds of plastic waste with the switch-over, which will begin next month. 

"Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material," R3CYCLE CEO Julian Ochoa said in a statement. Ochoa's group is helping Coke improve its recycling programs.

"When recycled, clear PET Sprite bottles can be remade into bottles, helping drive a circular economy for plastic," she said.

The Sprite brand was first developed in the Houston area in the mid-1950s before being acquired by Coke in 1960; the lemon-lime combination itself arose from the popular German brand Fanta.