Recycling initiatives

In recent years we have invested significantly in projects to introduce 'on-the-go' recycling as a way of encouraging people to think again about how the material in their hands can be put to a second use.

Our recyclable packaging is a channel in itself to communicate with consumers:

• We feature a clear recycling logo on our cans and bottles
• Where we have more room on our can multipacks, we print messages about the benefits of recycling aluminium

Recycling 'on-the-go' with Recycle Zone

Thanks to continuing investment in facilities by local authorities, household recycling in Great Britain is increasing in leaps and bounds. However, 'on-the-go' recycling facilities are still scarce. We know that people drink our products while they're out and about, so we wanted to find a way to help provide more bins to make recycling easier outside the home.

In 2008, Coca-Cola Enterprises launched 'Recycle Zone' in partnership with WRAP - the UK's first on-the-go recycling scheme - and implemented by the recycling charity, Recoup.  The original target was to create 80 Recycle Zones by the end of March 2011.  At the end of its three year investment there were 130 Recycle Zones which had collected over 338 tonnes of recyclate.

The first Recycle Zone was launched at Thorpe Park in Surrey and gives people at the theme park dedicated recycling units to put their empty bottles and cans where they will be collected and recycled.  The biggest Recycle Zone is at Manchester Airport which has 150 branded recycling units on site.

Recycle Zone on the High Street

Throughout 2009 and 2010 Coca-Cola Great Britain has been working with a number of Local Authorities to extend Recycle Zone to the high street to develop best practice recycling facilities and communications for their city centre communities. 

Throughout 2009 and 2010 Coca-Cola Great Britain has been working with a number of Local Authorities to extend Recycle Zone to the high street to develop best practice recycling facilities and communications for their city centre communities.

Recycle Zones have been set up in Southampton, Peterborough and Westminster and most recently Swansea in 2011. The units collect different waste streams, but usually feature aluminium cans, plastic bottles and in some cases paper. In Westminster alone the 260 Recycle Zone units are collecting over 4 tonnes of recyclable material a day.

Cllr Ed Argar, cabinet member for city management: "This recycling operation reflects the firm commitment and partnership with Coca-Cola and Westminster Council are putting in to making the West End a 'green' city in time for the Olympic Games.  I am pleased with how we responded to the needs and concerns of our residents and provided the facilities in order to make this a success.  I believe that this scheme is testimony to what can be achieved through the pubic and private sectors initiating projects together…"

Events Recycling

In the summer of 2010 Coca-Cola Enterprises launched a new recycling programme at eight of the biggest music festivals in Great Britain. The aims were to increase recycling at these events and help to create behaviour change among festival goers.

The most successful part of the programme was 'Swap for Swag', where consumers swapped PET bottles at our recycling stations for essential festival items made out of recycled PET. Over 92,300 PET bottles were swapped for 9,000 items of festival swag.

Each event also featured the Coca-Cola Recycle Garden, where bales of plastic bottles were used as seating and over 8,000 people visited the Recycle Garden across the eight festivals. In total, more than 18 tonnes of bottles and cans were recycled, enough to save 162 tonnes of greenhouse emissions, and over 550,000 members of the public were switched on to recycling in the process.

Recycling partnerships with retailers

In early 2011, Coca-Cola Enterprises partnered with ASDA to run a recycling promotion in store.  The promotion ran across 21 stores over a two-day period and featured displays, posters and pop-ups, as well as a 'Coke tunnel' where consumers were encouraged to commit to recycling and could claim an rPET recycle bin with a receipt.  During the promotion 8,400 rPET recycling boxes were given away.

Emeco 111 Navy Chair with Coca-Cola

In early 2010 The Coca-Cola Company and Emeco, the leading furniture manufacturer, combined their iconic products, the Coca-Cola contour bottle packaging and the famous Navy® Chair, to create a new chair made from at least 111 recycled plastic bottles.  Modeled after the original aluminium Emeco Navy Chair designed in 1944 for the U.S. Navy, each 111 Navy Chair contains a mix of 60  percent rPET plastic and a special combination of other materials including pigment and glass fibre for strength.  Manufactured in the USA, over three million PET plastic bottles will be turned in to 111 Navy Chairs annually with the plastic coming from Coca-Cola's recycling plant in the USA.

For more information go to:

http://www.emecowithcoke.com/