The Coca-Cola Company announced an important new initiative to boost recycling of Sprite bottles in Southeast Asia, thanks to a shift from green to clear PET bottles.
The change from Sprite’s iconic green color will make the PET bottles far easier to recycle. “We are beginning the transition this month in the Philippines, our largest market in ASEAN, and will expand to other markets in Southeast Asia through 2020,” said Belinda Ford, Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Director, Coca-Cola ASEAN.
PET containers are ideal for the food industry due to their transparency and high strength. In addition, thanks to their lightness, the resources needed to manufacture and transport them are reduced and, therefore, have a lower carbon footprint, compared to heavier materials.
What ends up placing PET containers on the top of sustainable packaging is their recyclability: PET is a very fine material, easily processable and that enables the containers to be smoothly recycled through highly optimized, profitable and efficient mechanical recycling techniques and processes to this day. To ensure 100% recyclability, it is enough to meet basic design requirements, including the transparency of the PET used.
The announcement was welcomed by Ashwin Subramaniam, CEO and Founder, GA Circular, a circular economy action and advisory company focused on driving the circular economy in Asia: “Our research in six countries across Southeast Asia has shown that a change from coloured PET to transparent PET greatly increases the value of the plastic in the after-use market and therefore its ability to remain in a circular economy and be used again and again for different purposes. Phasing out the use of coloured PET beverage packaging is a key recommendation in our new report on accelerating the circular economy for post-consumer PET bottles in Southeast Asia and we applaud the decision by Coca-Cola to make the switch.”
Sprite has been sold in iconic green bottles in ASEAN since the drink was first launched in the Philippines in 1968.
“We all recognize that packaging waste is a major, urgent issue, especially in Southeast Asia,” Ford said. “This is a solvable problem and, together with our partners, we’re taking action now across ASEAN to be part of the solution. There’s still a long way to go, but we are determined to deliver a World Without Waste, where the equivalent of 100% of our packaging is collected and recycled.”
Source: Coca cola Website / Plastic sense foundation
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