Environmental concerns addresssed during tour of Al Ain Coca-Cola plant

by Adrianna Sutherland

Before our 16 November tour of the Coca Cola bottling plant, I was deputed to ask why Coca Cola continues to use environmentally- unfriendly pop tops on cans of its products. The response: Two reasons.

First, at 40 degrees C, a soda can is under approximately 80 pounds per square inch of pressure; compare this with about 30psi for a tire on an average passenger car. At high temperatures, cans with fold-back tops were found to be more likely to explode than those with pop tops. Members who have experienced a summer here will concur that we do get a few high temp days, and many shops store their products unrefrigerated.

Secondly, there is a srong perception among consumers in this market that fold-back tops are unhygenic, because the part of the top that was outside prior to opening then goes inside and likely comes in contact with the drink. So, while Coke has experimented with the more environmentally-sound tops, customer preference has combined with physics and the UAE climate to rule out their use for the time being.