As part of its sustainable packaging strategy, the firm will begin selling Glacéau Smartwater, Britain’s third most popular ‘on-the-go’ brand, in bottles made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET) before the end of this year.

The move, welcomed by Defra, will remove an estimated 3,100 tonnes of virgin plastic from circulation in Britain annually and 9,000 tonnes across western Europe, the company said.

Additionally, it aims to double the amount of rPET used in all of its plastic bottles, across 20 brands, to at least 50% by early 2020.

In total Coca-Cola is targeting an annual reduction of its use of virgin plastic in Britain of 23,000 tonnes from 2020.

Furthermore, the company has announced plans to replace Sprite packaging from a green PET bottle to clear PET, from September this year, so that they can be more easily recycled while the amount of rPET they contain will also be increased not 50% next year.

“Using more recycled plastic is a critical element of our sustainable packaging strategy, as it reduces the amount of virgin material used in our packs,” said Leendert den Hollander, vice-president and general manager, Great Britain, Coca-Cola European Partners.

“None of this is easy and I am proud of the teams’ work to ensure we are on track to move to at least 50% recycled PET plastic on all of our bottles in 2020.

He called for more packaging to be collected in Britain and called for the introduction of a “well-designed” deposit return scheme in order to reduce litter and increase the quantity and quality of reprocessed materials.

WRAP chief executive, Marcus Gover, said: “Coca-Cola was one of the founding members of The UK Plastics Pact and it’s great to see them announce developments which demonstrate progress towards the Pact’s targets.

“A bottle made from recycled plastic uses 75% less energy and changing colour from green to clear may be subtle to the public but enables that plastic to be used for a multitude of purposes and significantly increases its value.”

Orginal Source