Waste, Packaging and recycling
Reducing our Packaging
"We have a huge responsibility because we produce so many cans and bottles we should be leading the way in finding new, greener packaging."EMPLOYEE
In June 2007, Coca-Cola Enterprises joined some of the UK's biggest brand owners, manufacturers and multiple retailers in announcing its support for the Courtauld Commitment - the Government's voluntary agreement on the reduction of packaging waste. This support is part of our corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy in Great Britain and our wider commitment to minimising the environmental impact of our business activities and products.
As part of the commitment, we'll continue our six-year partnership with WRAP - the Waste & Resources Action Programme, formed in 2001 to promote sustainable waste management. Together we'll work to achieve WRAP's objectives, which are to:
- Design out packaging waste growth by 2008.
- Deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010.
- Identify ways to tackle the problem of food waste.
We've already carried out a great deal of work to reduce the amount of packaging we use (saving costs in the process) and are committed to using the latest technology to reduce the weight of our packaging as far as technically possible.
I am delighted that Coca-Cola Enterprises has pledged to help WRAP meet the Courtauld Commitment and to help reduce the amount of packaging waste that ends up in the household bin. WRAP has been working in partnership with CCE over the past six years to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of using recycled PET in soft drinks packaging and to reduce the amount of packaging used via optimisation and lightweighting programmes.” LIZ GOODWIN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, WRAP
Global Sustainable Packaging Initiative
In October 2006, The Coca-Cola Company launched a Global Sustainable Packaging Initiative. This involves four strategic areas of work:
Design
Looking at how we can give consumers what they want while addressing their concerns about sustainability.
Recovery
Encouraging a society in which recycling is the norm.
Re-use
Doing more to re-use packaging and packaging materials after consumers have finished with them.
Inspiration
Inspiring consumers through innovation and leadership.
Reducing the weight of our 500ml bottle
- 24g
- The new weight of our 500ml bottles.
We've been working for some time to reduce the weight of our 500ml polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle it now weighs just 26 grams, down from 39 grams in 1994. In March 2006 we went even further, working in partnership with WRAP to trial a redesigned, lighter-weight 500ml PET bottle.
During the trial, we undertook extensive technical development of the packaging and worked with our PET supplier, Amcor PET Packaging, to redesign the pre-form bottle i.e. the piece of moulded plastic from which bottles are produced. The new shape maximises the qualities of the PET resin and means that we can create a stronger, lightweight bottle with no decrease in quality, performance or customer satisfaction.
The trial has shown that its possible to reduce the weight of the bottles even further to 24 grams.
We're investing to ensure that the necessary modifications can be made to bottle-blowing equipment at our manufacturing sites in Sidcup and Wakefield to allow the production of the new 24g bottles.
The first 24g bottles are due to roll off the production lines at Sidcup in September 2007. Wakefield the biggest soft drinks manufacturing site in Europe will begin producing 24g bottles at the start of 2008.
WRAP Project Manager, Peter Skelton, comments: "This project is an important part of WRAPs work with leading retail brands and manufacturers to demonstrate that packaging can be optimised without affecting customer perception, product quality or safety."
More information on this initiative can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
Changing the design of our iconic glass bottle
Every year we produce 67 million of our classic 330ml Coca-Cola contour glass bottles. This bottle remains a design classic but consumers might notice important changes to its shape and size in 2007.
In line with our commitment to reducing the weight of our packaging, we've used computer-aided design technology to redesign it. The new bottle will weigh only 210g (down from 263g), making it 20% lighter, slightly shorter and more impact-resistant at the same time. The initiative will reduce our use of glass by approximately 3,500 tonnes per year, cutting CO2 emissions by 2,200 tonnes in the process - equivalent to the average annual emissions of 365 UK households9.
We're also reducing the weight of our other 330ml Fanta and Sprite glass bottles. This is in addition to previous work to reduce the glass content of our 200ml and 125ml Schweppes bottles. The new, lighter glass bottles will appear in-store from October 2007.
9 WRAP & Energy Saving Trust.Reducing the weight of our aluminium cans
- 500
- tonnes of recycled PET used in 2006.
Aluminium is strong, lightweight and can easily be recycled. Each year we fill nearly two billion aluminium cans at our manufacturing sites in Wakefield, Sidcup and Milton Keynes.
We've been working with our can suppliers, Rexam and Crown, to make our aluminium cans progressively lighter and thinner. As a result, we've reduced the average weight of our cans by about 30% since 1987 and substantially cut our use of raw materials, saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions in the process.
During 2007 and 2008, we plan to take this work one stage further. Despite the fact that weve almost reached the limit of what is technically possible in terms of reducing weight, well be working with WRAP, Crown, Rexam and Beverage Can Makers Europe on a series of trials to test the performance requirements of an aluminium can.
Involving over 600 million cans and saving 228 tonnes of aluminium, the trials will aim to find the optimum specification for an aluminium can. The findings will be shared and the project, if successful, will enable the soft drinks industry to reduce the weight of aluminium cans even further.
