May 7, 2008 - Pepsi is introducing a new half-liter beverage bottle that cuts plastic use by 20%.

Pepsi estimates the lighter-weight bottle will divert about 20 million pounds of waste from landfill each year. In addition to the 20% reduction in plastic resin, the bottles feature a 10%-smaller label and 5% less shrinkwrap used to package 12- and 24-unit multipacks, the company says.

"The challenge was to deliver significantly lighter packaging that would provide the same shelf life as the heavier bottle, withstand the manufacturing and distribution process yet not compromise aesthetics," says Robert Lewis, Pepsi's VP of worldwide beverage packaging and equipment development. "In this case we're doing a little 'plastic surgery.'"

Pepsi says it consumer-tested 30 different bottles before settling on the current design.

The lighter bottles, which debut with Pepsi's popular Lipton, Tropicana, and Aquafina brands, will hit store shelves later this month.

Pepsi's bottle redesign is that latest in a trend toward lighter-weight packaging. Coke and Kraft have both introduced new, more resource-efficient bottle designs in the past year.