Coca Cola Amatil shows major Carbon Footprint reduction

23 Dec 2011

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has reported that its new technologies for the self-manufacture of lighter PET plastic beverage bottles delivered a reduction in the carbon footprint of each bottle by 22%. This is said to be equivalent to 1700 cars being removed from Sydney roads per year.

CCA’s claims are set out in a detailed Corporate Responsibility Report issued this week by the company. The Corporate Responsibility Report coincides with recent financial reporting by CCA that featured its expansion moves in the alcoholic drinks market.

Research Study

CCA’s figures for the calculation of its carbon footprint are based on the detailed research undertaken by Ms Martina Birk in her MSc Thesis “Case study – Coca-Cola Amatil, Australia: Comparison of carbon footprint converter model v blow-fill technology for PET bottles” August 2011.

Ms Birk’s study found that the most significant carbon savings are delivered by:

Using 15-23% less PET resin in all bottle manufacture
Using 33% less PET resin in closures (or caps)
Using 30% less energy used to “blow” the pre-forms into bottles
Eliminating use of the warmer – the new technology enables bottles to be filled at room temperature
Reducing the transportation of bottles from suppliers – 65,000 truck kilometres have been eliminated from CCA’s supply chain per year.

There have also been significant savings in water use as the “blow-fill” bottles do not need to be rinsed prior to filling.

Award-winning Technologies Leading to Improved Social Outcomes

CCA attributes some of its improved capabilities to provide better Environment, Social and Governance outcomes to its adoption of some innovative technologies.

One of the new lightweight PET bottles is the 13.1 gram Mount Franklin Easy-Crush Bottle, which is made with 35% less PET plastic. As the lightest-weight spring water bottle produced in Australia, the Mount Franklin Easy-Crush Bottle was the was the winner of Gold in the Sustainability category of the 2011 Australian Packaging Design Awards.

The water and carbon savings are being delivered by “blow-fill” bottle self-manufacture technology, which enables CCA to make its own bottles in its bottling facilities. The Company is rolling out the $450 million “blow-fill” technology across all its production facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

CCA’s other Environment, Social and Governance highlights

Other ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) highlights of the CCA Corporate Governance Report over 2010 and 2011 include:

3.2% improvement in CCA Australia’s water use ratio in 2010 – CCA Australia is one of the top three most efficient users of water in the global Coca-Cola System
17% reduction in malaria cases in CCA’s Papua New Guinea staff during 2010 thanks to an ongoing program to supply staff with free mosquito nets
8 tonnes of rubbish collected from 5 Bali beaches by 74 CCA staff and 14,000 turtle eggs saved from predators in 2010-11
1 million bottles of water and 85,000 kilograms of food donated by CCA and its subsidiary company SPC Ardmona to natural disaster victims in Queensland and Christchurch in 2011
A$1.35 Million donated to breast cancer support charities by Mount Franklin since 2006
Giving customers access to the world’s most energy efficient coolers
Public Place Recycling projects with major customers; commitment to a new national public place recycling system and Keep Australia Beautiful’s public education programs
Development of a Gender Diversity Policy and an Indigenous Employment Strategy
Improved employee engagement scores (Australia is in Best Employer Range – AON) and reductions in days lost to injury.