Coca-Cola US pens multi-year supply agreement for recycled Loop PET
30 Nov 2018 --- Loop Industries (Loop) has entered into a multi-year agreement with Coca-Cola to supply its branded, high-grade 100 percent recycled plastic resin to participating bottlers within the US. Coca-Cola believes this will be a significant step towards its goal of producing at least 50 percent of its PET bottles from recycled plastics.
The supply framework will see Loop supply the Coca-Cola system’s Cross Enterprise Procurement Group (“CEPG”) with 100 percent recycled and sustainable Loop PET plastic (“Loop PET”) from Loop’s joint venture facility with Indorama Ventures in the US to authorized Coca-Cola bottlers who enter into supply agreements with Loop.
Indorama Ventures is a world-class chemicals company and a global integrated leader in PET and fibers serving major customers in diversified end-use markets.
“We are very proud to become a supplier of Loop branded PET resin to the members of the Coca-Cola system’s Cross Enterprise Procurement Group,” says Daniel Solomita, Founder and CEO of Loop. “We are especially pleased to be able to assist Coca-Cola’s authorized bottlers as they work to meet their recycled content ambitions.”
“Like all responsible companies, we need to be selective in choosing our packaging materials so that we continue to eliminate waste and work to reduce the environmental impact,” says Ron Lewis, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Coca-Cola European Partners, a bottler member of CEPG.
“Investments like this one with Loop support our goal to ensure that at least 50 percent of the material we use for our PET bottles comes from recycled plastic, and will help us divert more materials from landfills and build a stronger circular plastic economy,” adds Lewis.
Loop PET is virgin-quality PET plastic that meets the FDA requirements for use in food-grade packaging. It is the product of the depolymerization of waste PET plastics such as water and soda bottles, carpet, textiles and even ocean plastics that have been degraded by the sun and salt.
“Loop’s technology breaks the waste PET down into its base building blocks, also referred to as monomers, which are purified into virgin-quality and then reploymerized into Loop PET,” Nelson Switzer, Chief Growth Officer, Loop, tells PackagingInsights.
“This agreement signals again that Loop has developed a commercially viable technology to help solve a growing environmental challenge – and one that allows consumer packaged goods companies to meet their sustainability ambitions,” he adds.
As the demand for sustainable packaging solutions continues to grow, Loop has emerged with transformational technology that allows no and low-value plastics to be diverted, recovered and recycled endlessly into new, virgin-quality Loop PET plastic.
Access to recycled plastic resin is high on the agenda for FMCGs as long-term sustainability goals edge closer. In October, Coca-Cola’s competitor, PepsiCo, entered into a similar multi-year agreement with Loop in order to facilitate increased access to high-quality recycled plastics across its US production.
“A circular economy is one in which materials are kept in the economy and out of nature – and is at the very core of Loop’s value proposition. Companies like the members of Coca-Cola’s CEPG that incorporate Loop PET into their product packaging are participants in, and champions of the circular economy,” Switzer concludes.
By Joshua Poole
