Coca-Cola ads declared "It's the Real Thing" in the 1970s; 40 years later, the company has announced its bottles will be, too.

The beverage giant revealed a new Coke bottle made of 100% sugarcane plant materials at the Expo Milano food technology conference last week, as part of its larger push for more sustainable packaging.

Dubbed the "PlantBottle," the new packaging looks and feels the same as traditional plastic bottles; the main difference is a more environmentally friendly, renewable plant-based manufacturing process. The company is using patented technology to convert natural sugars found in plants "into the ingredients for making PET [a form of polyester] plastic bottles," Coca-Cola said in a statement.

Traditional plastic bottles are derived from petroleum, and they burn large amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and distribute them. The PlantBottle is an attempt at a more responsible operation, with a smaller carbon footprint.

"The Coca-Cola company is determined to lead the consumer packaged goods industry away from its dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels and toward using renewable plant-based alternatives," the company said. "It hasn't been an easy task, but it shows our commitment to doing the right thing in the right way."

The company first introduced the PlantBottle prototype in 2009. Since then, it says it's distributed more than 35 billion bottles in nearly 40 countries, using a previous version made only of 30% plant-based materials.

CNN Money reports that approximately 30% of Coke bottles in North America are PlantBottles, but only 7% of Coke bottles around the world are made from plant materials. The company's goal is to use PlantBottles exclusively by 2020.

Coca-Cola estimates that the new packaging has saved the equivalent annual emissions of more than 315,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

In the grand scheme of things, that doesn't make a huge dent, and the PlantBottle still "recycles like traditional PET," which means it isn't biodegradable. But it's a start, and yet another example of legacy brands shifting focus to more conscious operations.

[H/T Business Insider]