As part of its journey towards a World Without Waste, Coca-Cola in partnership with its strategic bottling partner, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC), today 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. Today’s announcement builds on the €13m investment in the state-of-the-art Coca-Cola HBC plant at Knockmore Hill, Lisburn announced in 2021 and a further €1m investment more recently to accelerate the introduction of further packaging innovations including the move to 100% recycled plastic announced today.
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.
The move is part of a series of product changes being implemented in advance of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in early 2024 in the Republic of Ireland.
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.
The business in Ireland has already removed 442 tonnes annually of shrink plastic by introducing KeelClip and cardboard packaging across the Coca-Cola multipack cans portfolio. Earlier this year, this was extended to its Schweppes can range. This new type of packaging not only replaces the plastic wrap, but also minimises the amount of paper/card required.
Through The Coca-Cola Foundation, Coca-Cola has also been working with city councils to boost rates of collection of plastic bottles and cans for recycling in public places. Working with environmental NGO Hubub, the #CircleCity campaign involves placing bright yellow bins, made especially for plastic bottles and cans, at city centre locations. Dublin City Council was the first to introduce the concept in 2020, and this year Belfast City Council has joined the initiative. The campaign’s objective is to positively change how shoppers, tourists and city workers, segregate the bottles and cans from other waste as they’re consuming on-the-go.
