Coca-Cola switches to 100% recycled plastics across Netherlands and Norway

Coca-Cola is set to roll out bottles made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET) in the Netherlands and Norway, as part of the company’s latest efforts in Western Europe to eliminate the use of virgin oil-based plastics in its products. The switch to 100% rPET in the Netherlands will take place next month and will see Coca-Cola reduce the use of virgin oil-based plastics by more than 10,000 tonnes, which in turn will deliver a 21% reduction in carbon emissions associated with the company’s bottles annually.

Additionally, Coca-Cola will transition to 100% rPET in Norway in early 2021. The move will reduce virgin plastic use by 4,300 tonnes annually, creating a 28% reduction in carbon emissions based on bottles produced in the country. Coca-Cola believes the markets are well suited to support the use of rPET due to well-designed deposit return systems for plastic containers, which have boosted recycling levels for those items to well above 90% in some countries.

The two new market rollouts follow on from a similar decision launched in Sweden in December last year. To start with, smaller bottles used for brands such as Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite will be made using rPET, with larger bottles to follow. The move supports Coca-Cola’s ambition in Western Europe to use 100% rPET and eliminate the use of virgin-based plastics within the next decade. According to the company, this ambition will remove more than 200,000 tonnes of virgin, oil-based plastics from its packaging.

Additionally, Coca-Cola’s rPET bottles produced in each market will be fully recyclable, so they can be used again as raw material for new bottles. The Coca-Cola Company is aiming to make all bottles globally with an average of 50% recycled content by 2030, up from its 2017 proportion of 7%. Coca-Cola has set a target to collect 100% of its packaging by collecting a bottle or can, regardless of brand, for every one produced by 2025. Last year, Europe’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler announced it will end the use of shrink-wrapped plastics across all can multipacks it sells in Great Britain.

Source: edie.net