STONEY ginger beer trades its brown bottle for clear PET in South Africa
STONEY ginger beer, a Coca-Cola brand in South Africa, is switching from brown to clear PET bottles, starting with the 2.25-litre size in June 2026. SPRITE made the same move from green. Coca-Cola says labels and closure colours will carry STONEY recognition, and the rest of the range shifts over time.
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Key facts, context, and what it means.
Key takeaways
Once STONEY goes clear, the label and the cap carry the brand, so those specs need the same lock-down the brown tint used to get.
The STONEY move follows SPRITE’s switch from green to clear plastic bottles in South Africa, and could signal a brand-by-brand approach to coloured bottles.
The signal to watch is the next STONEY size to go clear: so far only the 2.25-litre bottle is confirmed, and no dates have been given for the rest of the range.
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The brown bottle is on its way out. The Coca-Cola Co. is moving its STONEY ginger beer brand out of brown bottles and into clear PET packaging. The change is being phased in, starting with the 2.25-litre bottle.
A release on the Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa website, dated Johannesburg, 23 June 2026, said the phased rollout would begin in June 2026 with the 2.25-litre bottle and that the new clear bottles were expected to begin appearing on shelves nationwide from June. The release added that the rest of the portfolio would transition over time.
That leaves a practical question for anyone who designs, buys or recovers these bottles. The CCBSA release refers to STONEY's "iconic brown bottle." Once that colour is gone, something else may have to do the job of making the bottle stand out on shelf.
Labels and caps take over
Coca-Cola's answer is the label and the closure. The company says the refreshed STONEY packaging is easy to recognise, with distinct labels and closure colours kept consistent across every variant. That suggests the label and closure could become the brand's main visual signal.
Once the bottle goes clear, the label and the cap are the only things left carrying the brand. For the packaging team, that suggests closure colour and label design deserve the same lock-down treatment the bottle tint used to get. Every variant across every size has to read as STONEY at a glance.
Once the bottle goes clear, the label and the cap are the only things left carrying the brand.
There's a fair objection here. Ease of recognition is the company's claim, and so far nobody has reported how shoppers are responding on shelf. The sources also differ slightly on what stays the same. The CCBSA release says the bottles will keep delivering "the same distinctive, refreshing KWETSA taste consumers know and love," and Packaging Strategies repeats the line, while Adsale Plastics Network's July 8 write-up says the new bottle keeps delivering the same product protection. Both are company assurances, not measured results.
Green went first, now brown
STONEY isn't the first Coca-Cola brand in South Africa to lose its colour. SPRITE already moved from green to clear plastic bottles there to improve recyclability, and the STONEY change follows that precedent.
Coca-Cola South Africa's Vice President and Managing Director, Mario I. Garcia, said the switch is part of the company's continuing work to improve packaging design and recyclability. He said clear STONEY bottles will be easier to collect and recycle, and that the change also supports economic activity throughout the waste collection and recycling value chain. Because the move follows SPRITE's shift from green to clear plastic bottles, it could point to a deliberate brand-by-brand programme rather than a one-off redesign.
Scope check: STONEY is moving from its brown bottle to clear PET packaging. Coca-Cola's wider portfolio also includes glass, aluminium cans and refillable packaging, and the company presents that mix as giving consumers choice while reducing packaging waste and associated emissions.
The next size to watch
The sources give no dates for the remaining STONEY sizes. That makes the next pack size to go clear the most concrete signal to watch.
For collectors and recyclers in South Africa, the effect could build gradually. STONEY follows SPRITE, which moved from green to clear plastic bottles in South Africa, and the rest of the STONEY portfolio is set to transition over time.
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