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Sustainable Packaging/
Recycling Overview


Understanding Our Packaging Challenges

Our Sustainable Packaging/
Recycling Strategy


Reducing Our Packaging

Reusing Materials and Increasing Recycled Content

Developing Renewable Resources

Recycling at Our Facilities

Effective Recovery and Consumer Recycling

Partnerships and Public Policy



Packaging Quiz

Effective Recovery and Consumer Recycling

Because recycling trends are quite different across our territories, we have developed different approaches in our territories to achieve our shared Commitment 2020 goal. In North America, Coca-Cola Recycling LLC was created in 2007 to support the Coca-Cola system’s recycling goals; in Europe, our Recycle Zone model is used to encourage consumer recycling at public venues. Because of our work with key Coca-Cola customers, both program models have proven successful.

On-the-Go Consumer Recycling

North America
Since 2007, Coca-Cola Recycling has focused on increasing recovery and reuse in North America. In 2009, Coca-Cola Recycling collected nearly 160,000 metric tons of aluminum and PET, an increase of 27 percent. We have already exceeded our goal to recover 230,000 metric tons of beverage containers from 2007 through 2010. Having already achieved this milestone, we are well positioned to help The Coca-Cola Company reach their 2015 goal to recover the equivalent of 50 percent of our bottles and cans sold in North America.

As we scale up our recycling work, we have identified the following key elements for success:

  • Providing consumers with convenient access to recycling at home, at work, and on the go
  • Reminding consumers to recycle with a direct call to action such as the Give It Back® campaign
  • Focusing where the opportunities are greatest for material collection and recycling education
  • Creating programs that are replicable and scalable by training our local operations to set up their own programs with customers
  • Working with material collection companies and processing plants to ensure that recycled materials are properly recovered and repurposed

In North America, we target busy public places where our beverages are consumed such as sports and entertainment venues, large special events, the top 100 colleges and universities, and amusement parks. Our Recycling Education Vehicles are used at these venues as a focal point for fun consumer education with recycling-themed videos, games, and rewards. During 2009, the vehicles appeared at more than 160 different events across 41 states and provinces in North America and Canada. By partnering with large customers and venues, we help install sustainable recycling infrastructure. Highlights for 2009 include:

  • NASCAR: In partnership with NASCAR, we placed more than 3,000 recycling bins at race tracks across the U.S., and diverted more than 2.5 million beverage containers from landfills into recycling streams. Consumers have embraced our recycling program, and NASCAR has now made it part of their own sustainability strategy known as “NASCAR Green.”
  • Atlanta Braves: At Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, we urge spectators to use our bins to recycle their beverage containers through advertising, LED displays, on-screen videos, in-game features, and public service announcements. Additionally, all game-day employees wear rPET shirts with the Give It Back message. In the 2009 season, more than 300 Coke-identified recycle bins were placed around Turner Field, and we recycled almost 500,000 beverage containers.
  • University of Mississippi: We partnered with the university to develop a sustainable recycling program during the football season. Public service announcements produced by the university reminded fans to recycle at the games, and more than 200 student-volunteers collected materials from bins around the football stadium and tailgating area.

Europe
Southampton Recycle Zone, Great Britain

We have conducted a study of our packaging footprint in four of our European countries and have identified gaps and opportunities to further invest in European recycling. We seek to take a leadership position in raising overall recycling rates, while capturing commercial benefits. In 2009, Recycle Zone recovered several metric tons of packaging material above volumes recovered by existing state and local recycling programs in Europe.

In Great Britain, we are rapidly expanding our Recycle Zone program, which allows consumers to recycle beverage packages while on the go. By the end of 2009, we had 34 zones in busy public areas ranging from shopping malls and concert arenas to transportation hubs such as train stations and airports, thereby providing the 100 million visitors to these places with recycling opportunities. Our Recycle Zones have been supported by a new national marketing campaign, “Keep it Going. Recycle.” that shows how recycling bottles and cans reduces the carbon footprint of a packaged drink by more than 50 percent. By 2011, we plan to have 80 Recycle Zones in Great Britain.

In Belgium, where recycling rates are the highest among our territories, we focus on recycling at concerts, sports arenas, and other events. By partnering with event organizers, we were able to recover the majority of bottles and cans at the Rock Werchter Festival.

We share best practices among European countries. In France, we adopted the Recycle Zone model, setting up the first recycling program in 2009 at the world-famous Louvre museum. We now plan to develop 14 additional recycle zones in France.


Partnering with Coca-Cola Recycling for us was actually a no-brainer. When we learned about Coke’s sustainability goals as a corporation and how Coca-Cola Recycling fit into those, it was just a natural fit for our NASCAR Green Initiatives. NASCAR fans love to spend time outdoors and have a real respect for the environment, and Coca-Cola Recycling really took time to understand our audience and engage them in a successful program.

         — DR. MICHAEL LYNCH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GREEN INNOVATION, NASCAR


At-Home Consumer Recycling
While curbside recycling is widespread in our European and Canadian territories, only half of U.S. households have access to recycling at home and only 50 percent of those with access use their curbside recycling programs. Because most of our beverages are consumed at home, we are working on domestic collection and recycling by supporting programs that combine infrastructure with marketing, education, and compelling incentives.

In 2009, we supported the launch of an innovative recycling incentive program, ReCart, in Atlanta, Georgia, through a partnership with RecycleBank. The pilot program recovers recyclables from 10,000 households in exchange for RecycleBank points that can be redeemed at hundreds of businesses. Early results show that recovery of recyclable material has doubled within the pilot area. We are now in dialogue with other cities to launch similar programs.




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