Soft drinks have been the common lifestyle in Western nations for many years. Many people consume and drink soft drinks even more than water. This research will discuss the materials used in producing containers for soft drinks and the issues regarding reduction, reuse, and recycling of the soft drink containers.
             There are many different kinds of containers used in the soft drink industry: Aluminum cans are the most common soft drink containers. 67.8 billion soft drinks were packaged in aluminum cans in the United States of America in 2000. Aluminum is good for soft drinks because it does not rust and can be formed into many different shapes. This material is also strong but lightweight. Aluminum is made by bauxite, which is a mineral mined from the earth. Bauxite is then mixed with a solution and is heated to separate the aluminum. Around 67,000 aluminum pop cans can be made with a tonne of aluminum.
             Plastic is another material commonly used for soft drink packages. "To help plastics recycling, each plastic container or bottle has a triangular-shaped code imprinted or molded onto its bottom surface." Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET) is the kind of plastic commonly used to produce plastic bottles for soft drinks, which has a '1' indicated inside the triangular-shaped symbol. PETE is tough, clear plastic. PETE bottle "also provides a good barrier to gas, which makes it suitable for packaging carbonated drinks." The most important materials used to produce plastic are petroleum and natural gas. The plastics are then heated in a granular form through an extruder and turn the plastics into tubes. Air is blown into these tubes and forces the plastic outwards against the mold wall to form PET bottles. Usually, one tonne of PET plastics can make 21,000 2-liter soft drink bottles. Chart 1 shows a projection in using plastic bottles in the soft drink industry, which has a significant increment from 2001 to 2006, while the othe...