Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc., the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country, in partnership with industry partners, spearhead plans to establish a P1-billion pioneering food-grade recycling facility.
This represents Coca-Cola’s first major investment in a recycling facility in Southeast Asia as a part of the company’s commitment to a “World Without Waste,” collaboration with a local company and internationally-recognized green technology recycling firm.
“Coca-Cola has called the Philippines its home for 107 years and counting, and we want to do our part in ensuring sustainability within its shores,” said CBPI president and chief executive Gareth McGeown.
The company said that to ensure that the positive impact of the facility would be total and far-reaching, it started talks with a reputable local company which is recognized globally as a green technology partner in recycling.
Anchored on the circular economy concept, the recycling facility will collect, sort, clean and wash post-consumer PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles and turn them into new bottles using advanced technology.
“Our Coca-Cola bottles and cans are 100-percent recyclable and have value as a recycled material. Our aspiration with this facility is to close the loop on our packaging by helping turn old bottles into new ones. This facility is a testament to our resolve in making our World Without Waste vision a reality across the country, with a real positive impact not just across our value chain, but also in the communities where we belong,” McGeown said.
The company also intends to use an average of 50-percent recycled content in its packaging including PET bottles.
Once established, the facility will contribute to the improvement of PET collection and recycling rates in the Philippine, giving more job opportunities Filipinos.
The project is an integral part of “World Without Waste” – Coca-Cola’s global commitment to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030.
“World Without Waste is an important and very ambitious goal and we are confident that by working together with our partners, we can deliver on our commitments here in the Philippines. The bottle-to-bottle closed loop investment that we are announcing today is a model for how we want to grow sustainably and responsibly. We recognize that there is a packaging waste problem in the world today and this investment is one of the ways we are stepping up to be part of the solution for the long-haul,” McGeown said.
Other projects in the pipeline involve using solar panels in the company’s manufacturing facilities as part of its Clean Energy 2.0 initiative.