Reducing our packaging

As part of this commitment, CCE agreed to continue to work in partnership with WRAP to achieve the following objectives:

• To eliminate packaging waste growth by 2008 - a target we achieved
• To deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010.

This will support WRAP in its objective to deliver more sustainable use of resources over the life of a product by aligning corporate strategies and goals. In fact, in 2008 they announced that the grocery sector had halted packaging growth and was on track to decrease packaging and food waste by 2010.

We've been working hard to achieve the above objectives - using the latest technology to re-design and reduce the weight of our packaging as far as technically possible.

Reducing the weight of our 500ml bottle

We've put considerable effort into reducing the weight of our 500ml PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle.

• It now weighs just 24g - down from 39g in 1994
• We now save more than 3,900 metric tons of PET each year (based on current volume)

The new shape of the bottle maximises the qualities of the PET resin - allowing us to create a stronger, lightweight bottle with no compromise on quality, performance or consumer satisfaction.

We needed to make some adjustments to our bottle-blowing equipment in order to produce the new 24g bottles. So throughout 2007 and 2008, we invested in our Sidcup and Wakefield manufacturing sites to carry out the necessary modifications.

The first batch of new bottles was made on the production lines at Sidcup. Our Wakefield site (the biggest soft drinks manufacturing site in the world) began producing them at the beginning of 2008.

This project is an important part of WRAP's work with leading retail brands and manufacturers to demonstrate that packaging can be optimised without affecting customer perception, product quality or safety.

Peter Skelton,
WRAP Project Manager

Changing the design of our glass bottle

Everyone is familiar with our iconic 330ml Coca-Cola glass contour bottles. It's little wonder; every year we produce around 67 million of them. While the bottle's design remains a classic, consumers may have noticed some changes to its shape and size towards the end of 2007.

Using computer-aided design technology, we've reduced the weight of the bottle. The new bottle weighs only 210g (down from 263g), making it 20% lighter, slightly shorter and more impact-resistant, all at the same time.

The new shape of the bottle maximises the qualities of the PET resin - allowing us to create a stronger, lightweight bottle with no compromise on quality, performance or consumer satisfaction.

This new Ultra design reduces our use of glass by about 3,500 tonnes per year and cuts our CO2 emissions by 2,200 tonnes - roughly the equivalent of the emissions of 365 UK homes.

This is a great achievement by the team at CCE and demonstrates that iconic packaging, such as the Coke bottle, can be optimised while building brand values. It provides a strong lead to the current momentum within the food and drink sector to deliver major environmental and supply chain benefits that customers are increasingly demanding.

Richard Swannell,
Director of Retail and Organics Programmes,
WRAP

Reducing the weight of our aluminium cans

Most of our drinks come in aluminium cans. Each year we fill almost two billion of them at our manufacturing sites in Wakefield, Sidcup and Milton Keynes.

Aluminium is an ideal packaging material - strong, lightweight and easily recyclable. But producing aluminium cans also has an impact on the environment. Aluminium is one of the most rare of the world's resources and its use in can production has a significant carbon footprint.

CCE leads the industry in drinks can design improvement. One of our biggest achievements in 2008 was the re-design of the aluminium can to reduce its environmental impact.

• Working with our project partners BCME (Beverage Can Makers Europe) and supported by WRAP, we've been able to produce cans that are 5% lighter
• The can "wall" is now the thickness of a human hair
• WRAP has estimated that the new can design will save 15,000 tonnes of aluminium across the EU each year, cutting CO2 emissions by about 78,000 tonnes

The new can specification has set a new standard for the industry across the EU and was developed and extensively tested in this country at CCE manufacturing sites. Six and a half billion of the new cans have already been produced and distributed and in 2009, we expect more than 15 billion cans in the new design will be produced across Europe.