Coca-Cola reaches sustainability milestone with move to 100% recycled plastic
As part of its journey towards a World Without Waste, Coca-Cola in partnership with its strategic bottling partner, Coca-Cola HBC, has announced that all plastic bottles across its soft drinks’ portfolio in Ireland and Northern Ireland are now made with 100% recycled plastic.
The new 100% recycled plastic bottles, which are also 100% recyclable, will be used across the full range of Coca-Cola products, such as Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, and for other beverage brands owned by the company, including Fanta and Sprite.
This is a key sustainability milestone for Coca-Cola on the island of Ireland and will lead to the elimination of an additional 7,100 tonnes of virgin plastic from circulation annually.
Over €20m has been invested in the last number of years in both developing sustainable packaging solutions through enhancement of its state-of-the-art Coca-Cola HBC plant at Knockmore Hill, Lisburn and in the purchase of recycled plastic material in that period. This investment has enabled the roll out of key packaging innovations, including today’s announcement to move to 100% recycled plastic and the recent introduction of KeelClip packaging in the market.
Coca-Cola is aiming to raise awareness of the need for packaging circularity and to increase recycling rates with a bold new green ribbon design on pack across its portfolio and simple recycling message: ‘I’m a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic*, recycle me again.’ The milestone moment will be accompanied by an out-of-home, digital and social campaign across October and November.
Davide Franzetti, General Manager, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland said: “As the bottling partner for The Coca-Cola Company, we have accelerated the move to sustainable packaging ensuring that Ireland remains one step ahead of the global targets by incorporating more recycled material in our packaging.
“The shift to using 100% recycled plastic in our bottles will help eliminate 7,100 tonnes of virgin plastic from circulation annually, and in conjunction with the introduction a deposit return scheme (DRS) in Ireland early next year, will also support our move towards ensuring all of our bottles are used, recovered, recycled and reused, again and again.
“We are committed to driving forward our World Without Waste programme on the island of Ireland as we work with others to address waste and climate issues created by packaging.”
Coca-Cola in Ireland and Northern Ireland has taken a series of measures in recent years to reduce its packaging footprint and improve collection systems that support a circular economy for plastic bottles and cans.
