The Coca-Cola Company makes packaging pledge
18 February 2022The Coca-Cola Company is aiming for at least 25% of all beverages, across its portfolio of brands, to be sold in refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles, or refillable containers through a fountain or Coca-Cola dispensers by 2030.
World Without Waste
The announcement is linked to Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste initiative, which has three elements – Design, Collect and Partner. The Design element aims to ensure all primary consumer packaging is recyclable by 2025, with 50% recycled material in packaging by 2030. The Collect element sets out the ambition to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one sold by 2030. And finally, the Partner element aims to bring people together to support a healthy, debris-free environment.
The move by Coca-Cola demonstrates its ambition to move further towards circularity, which reduces the consumption of new materials, in favour of materials that can be reused. Of course, this ambition will require continued supply chain development to ensure reliable flows of materials both down the supply chain, but also back up it. Coca-Cola is aiming to build packaging collection into the delivery model, ensuring the initiative is low carbon.
A track record in reusables
The work will build upon Coca-Cola’s current use of returnable glass bottles and refillable PET, which currently represent more than 50% of The Coca-Cola Company’s product sales in more than 20 markets, and more than 25% of sales in another 20 markets.
Elaine Bowers Coventry, Chief Customer & Commercial Officer at The Coca Cola Company, said
We continue to put consumers at the centre of all we do. One way to do that is by offering sustainable packaging types. Accelerating use of reusable packaging provides added value for consumers and customers while supporting our World Without Waste goal to collect a bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030.
Ben Jordan, Senior Director, Packaging and Climate at The Coca-Cola Company, added
Reusable packaging is among the most effective ways to reduce waste, use fewer resources and lower our carbon footprint in support of a circular economy.
We will continue to highlight markets that are leading the way with reusable packaging best practices, and to support other markets as they increase their use of reusable packaging.
Want to know more about sustainability in food-to-go?
"Healthy menus, healthy planet" is one of our five food-to-go trends for 2022. Read the full report