Rock Bottom

According to data from Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter our world’s
oceans each year. The Coca-Cola Company is a founding member of Ocean Conservancy’s
Trash Free Seas Alliance®, whose goal is to one day eliminate ocean trash entirely. This
means that the world is looking to them to lead the charge on reducing the use of single-use
plastics. However, Coca-Cola’s juice boxes and pouches currently utilize single-use plastic
straws that too often end up in the ocean.

Introducing Eco-Sip: a new angle on juice boxes. Our team designed an innovative new juice
box that eliminates the need for a straw. The top of the box is slanted to create a spout shape
for easy drinkability. To access the beverage, consumers will simply pull a perforated tear tab at
the top of the spout, which will open the box. Then, all the consumer needs to do is gently
squeeze the opening they have created to form the spout, and drink! This design is ergonomic,
forming an easy and comfortable opening out of which to drink. The spout shape also gives the
same spill resistant characteristics of the original straw design, since the consumer’s mouth
covers the hole, which is great for kids of all ages. The tear tab not only provides tamper
evidence, but also allows for FFP that is so easy to open that a child will be able to use it
without requiring adult supervision.

And it’s not just the environment that will benefit from the elimination of a straw from juice boxes.
Consumer testing shows that consumers struggle with the external glued-on straw in many
ways. Firstly, the straw is frequently lost or damaged, causing consumers to have no feasible
way to get at the juice inside the carton. Additionally, small children often do not have the fine
motor skills required to poke a straw through the small opening, so an adult must assist them.
Eco-Sip is the answer to both of these buyer gripes.

The graphics on the Eco-Sip are very similar to the original Minute Maid juice box. We wanted
to keep the iconic brand easily recognizable on shelves, even with the new shape. The only
major changes are on the top of the carton, where a dotted line is printed along the tear tab to
make opening the package intuitive. Also, the instruction “squeeze here” was printed at the top,
with arrows pointing to the sides of the spout opening, to make the opening process as clear as
possible.

Now made with responsibly-sourced board, our Eco-Sip Minute Maid juice box design fully
embraces sustainability. Future generations will thank Coca-Cola for doing its part to combat
the ever-growing environmental issues our planet faces every day, and customers will
appreciate having a product that is easy to use.