Meet the New Heinz Ketchup Bottle

Heinz plans to use the plant-based bottle for all its 20 oz bottles of ketchup in the U.S. this summer.

Next time you buy ketchup, it may come with a smaller carbon footprint.

Heinz announced plans this week to license Coke’s patented PlantBottle, a PET bottle made with 30 percent plant-based sugars that the Coca-Cola Company introduced for its own products in 2009. The bottles, currently made with sugarcane ethanol, are fully recyclable and function just like a typical PET container.

Heinz says it will roll out the PlantBottle for all its 20-ounce bottles of ketchup in June – about 120 million bottles – complete with special labeling that details the environmental savings. The packaging is part of the company’s larger effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, water consumption and energy usage by at least 20 percent by 2015.

Coke currently uses the PlantBottle in nine countries and plans to expand to more than a dozen new markets in 2011.