Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced that 50% of the plastic used in its core portfolio made in Great Britain is now from recycled sources.
Plastic packaging of brands such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Oasis, and Powerade – which are already 100% recyclable – will now be made from 50% recycled plastic (rPET).
With this shift, Coca-Cola says it increases its rPET usage by a further 25%. The company also pledged that the rest of its portfolio will follow in the same pattern later this year.
According to CCEP, the shift will reportedly mean Great Britain is now using over 21,000 tonnes of recycled plastic per year.
To announce the change, bottles will feature new labels notifying consumers of the increased recycled material and encouraging them to recycle.
“One of the key challenges the industry currently faces is that there isn’t enough food-grade recycled plastic locally available in the UK to switch to 100% rPET across our entire range. There needs to be more high-quality recycled plastic produced, so it’s vital to make sure we collect more bottles in an efficient way, and stop it ending up as waste,” said Stephen Moorhouse, general manager at CCEP Great Britain.
He added: “Although all our bottles have been 100% recyclable for many years, too many are still not being recycled. That’s why we support the introduction of a well-designed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), consistent across Great Britain and coupled with investment in infrastructure. This will really encourage more people to recycle and will help more bottles to be collected in a clean, efficient way so that they can be remade into new bottles again.”
The announcement follows CCEP’s transition to 100% recycled plastic (rPET) bottles in the Netherlands and Norway. Earlier this year, CCEP also invested in recycling start-up Cure Technology, in an attempt to eliminate virgin oil-based PET from its packaging within the next decade.
For 20 years, Coca-Cola Great Britain has worked closely with WRAP and is one of the founder members of the charity’s UK Plastics Pact.
Helen Bird, strategic engagement manager at WRAP, said: “It takes 75% less energy to make a plastic bottle from recycled plastic compared with using virgin material, and it’s always important to remember that using recycled content in the manufacture of new products and packaging is the whole point of recycling.”
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