Coca-Cola strengthens reusable bottle strategy with new target for low-carbon circularity

14 Feb 2022 --- Coca-Cola has announced a target to sell 25% of all beverages globally across its brands portfolio in refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles, or refillable containers through traditional fountains or Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers, by 2030.

The beverage giant calls this target “an industry-leading goal, significantly boosting its use of reusable packaging.” Its World Without Waste initiative focuses on three core pillars:

• Design: Making all of its primary consumer packaging recyclable by 2025 and using 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030.
• Collect: Collecting and recycling a bottle or can for every one it sells by 2030.
• Partner: Bringing people together to support a healthy, debris-free environment.

“Accelerating the use of reusable packages 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,” comments Elaine Bowers Coventry, chief customer and commercial officer at Coca-Cola.Refillable containers can cut carbon.

As the Ellen MacArthur Foundation notes in its Reuse: Rethinking Packaging report, converting 20% of global plastic packaging into reuse models is a US$10 billion business opportunity that benefits customers and represents a crucial element in the quest to eliminate plastic waste and pollution.

However, in its Global Progress Report, the charity identified “alarmingly” low reusable packaging growth in 2021. It found 56% of its Global Commitment signatories did not launch any reuse pilots in 2020. Of those who did, only 22% distributed more than 3% reusable plastic packaging in their portfolios.

Coca-Cola’s refillable strides
According to Coca-Cola, refillable containers are low-carbon beverage containers with high collection levels, as the collection is built into the beverage delivery model. Returnable glass bottles and refillable PET currently represent more than 50% of its product sales in more than 20 markets and more than 25% of sales in another 20 markets.

Traditional refillable or returnable packaging accounted for approximately 16% of the company’s total volume in 2020. The use of refillables is growing in several markets, outperforming non-refillables in Germany and parts of Latin America, where reusable bottles represented 27% of transactions in 2020.

Markets around the world have increased their focus on refillable packaging in recent years through initiatives that include:

• Expanding the rollout of the “Universal Bottle” first introduced in 2018 by Coca-Cola Brazil and now used in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Panama. This solution drives collection, cleaning and filling efficiency by offering multiple sparkling and still brands in the same reusable bottle with a single color, shape and size. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recognized the Universal Bottle as a leading practice on reuse.
• Expanding the rollout of refillable 2 L and 1.5 L PET (RefPET) plastic bottles, which can be cleaned, refilled and reused before being recycled and made into new PET bottles, in South Africa.
• Partnering with Carrefour to pilot a circular shopping system called Loop in France. Consumers can order various products, including Coca-Cola beverages, delivered to their homes in customized packaging that is collected, cleaned, refilled and reused or recycled.
• Partnering with Burger King and TerraCycle in the US for a pilot program in select cities to reduce single-use packaging waste by offering reusable food containers and beverage cups.
• Introducing reusable cups with microchip technology for use with Coca-Cola Freestyle machines at theme parks, university campuses and cruise ships.

Consumer perceptions
Reusable packaging is increasingly recognized as crucial to waste reduction, with wide-ranging support from NGOs, regulatory bodies and consumers. According to Innova Market Insights, the majority of global consumers (52%) believe reusable packaging is an environmentally sustainable packaging model, followed by recyclable (50%), biodegradable (31%) and compostable (24%).Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispenser.

“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,” says Ben Jordan, senior director for packaging and climate at Coca-Cola.

“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.”

In other news, Coca-Cola recently launched label-free PET bottles in South Korea and unveiled a plant-based PET bottle prototype for commercial testing.

By Joshua Poole