According to a report published by the Freedonia Group, the volume of plastic used for soft drinks bottles is expected to surge in the next few years as consumers demonstrate preference for this material over metal and glass. It is reported that annual world production of carbonated soft drinks containers made from plastic will grow 59.2% in the five years to 2001, compared with less than half this for metal cans and just 1.7% for glass bottles. Freedonia predicts that production of plastic containers for soft drinks will reach 64.8bn units in 2001, up from 40.7bn units in 1996. Output of metal soft drinks cans will reach 125.6bn units, up 22.8% on the 1996 figure of 102.2bn. Glass bottles for soft drinks are expected to total 133.9bn in 2001, compared with 131.6bn in 1996.
