Green Options » soft drinks

Coca-Cola Launches Eco-Friendly Packaging

Lisa Wojnovich — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:43:12 +0000

In their ongoing efforts to achieve a more environmentally friendly image, the Coca-Cola Co. announced earlier this month that they will be launching new biobased plastic bottles for their Dasani water line later this year and vitaminwater next year. They’re calling their new packaging the “PlantBottle^TM.”

The New Pepsi Challenge: Greening the Soft Drink Industry

Lisa Wojnovich — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:50:24 +0000

If you live in Washington, D.C., keep your eyes open this April. PepsiCo, the makers of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Aquafina, have begun field-testing 30 green vending machines. The machines feature a redesigned Pepsi logo and are prominently marked as green technology.

Apparently, the cola wars spilled over into the green tech sector a few years ago. Coca Cola has placed vending machines that use hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) alternatives at the Olympic Games since 2004 as well as at several other international events. Not to be outdone, along with the machines Pepsi is testing in the nation’s capital, they are testing a few thousand other machines around the world that use other green refrigerant alternatives to HFCs. Moreover, the older models these green machines are set to replace are themselves improvements over models from 2003. Both companies have also joined with Greenpeace and several other corporations to form the Refrigerants, Naturally! coalition, a group determined to reduce the environmental impact of HFC refrigerants.

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Children’s Eating Habits Depend On Their Parents

Amy Bell — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:34:06 +0000

Parents have a tremendous influence over how their children eat.

To emphasize this, researchers at Saint Louis University have determined that families who eat out often are more likely to skimp on fresh fruits and vegetables compared to those who eat more meals at home.

After focusing their study on young families in southeastern Missouri, it was found that close to 73% of parents don’t consume the minimum recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day.

Researchers also discovered that families who eat out frequently are less likely to have fresh produce on hand at home.

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Family Meals Create Better Eating Habits

Amy Bell — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:57:01 +0000

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, eating together as a family during adolescence is associated with lasting positive effects on dietary quality in young adulthood.

Students surveyed as teenagers were surveyed again at twenty years old to determine the long term effects of eating family meals. Researchers found that eating family meals together during childhood resulted in adults who ate more fruits and vegetables, and drank less soft drinks.

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Caffeine for Kids…Say What?

Ali Benjamin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:33:34 +0000

Um. Look I don’t want to be an alarmist or anything. But. Um.

See, I’ve got kids? And, see…they’re kind of…energetic enough? I mean really, truly. Spend five seconds in my house and you will see: they are doing just fine bouncing off the walls of their own accord. So, I’ll thank the world for not encouraging them to bounce off the ceiling, as well.

Oh, but I can‘t thank the world, because apparently the world is instead choosing to fill them with caffeine when I’m not around.

As this great article from Metroactive explains, “these days, constraints on caffeine consumption for kids and young teens are nonexistent. Kids are having caffeine early and often.” It’s not just in their drinks, apparently. Candy bars? Increasingly filled with the stuff.

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