SOUTH AFRICA – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) is rolling out its 2L returnable bottle in Mangaung in the Free State and Northern Cape, as part of its commitment to reduce plastic waste.
The move comes after CCBSA, in 2019, successfully launched refillable PET bottle (RefPET) in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, North-West, Mpumalanga and parts of the Free State.
According to the company, the aim is to include more consumers, who are an important part of the recycling value chain.
CCBSA says the returnable PET bottles are identifiable by a paper label, with ‘RETURNABLE’ appearing in green on the front of the bottle.
To start the communities and households on this loop, the company will give each household a 2L RefPET sample that they can exchange for a deposit when they buy any of the products available in a 2L RefPET from the local store.
Once a bottle is returned to CCBSA, it goes on a looped journey to be cleaned in accordance with Coca-Cola’s stringent measures and requirements, then refilled to start its next lifecycle.
When the bottle reaches the end of its useable lifecycle, it joins the recycling value chain and is repurposed into another PET product.
“We are very excited by this progressive phase of our RefPET rollout in the two provinces,” said Velaphi Ratshefola, CCBSA’s managing director.
“This innovation is part of our World Without Waste Vision 2030, which relies on partnerships with customers, consumers, communities, industry, and governments to succeed.
“Our vision and annual targets are ambitious, but our results have shown us that it is possible to make a meaningful contribution towards helping create a waste-free planet.”
As part of its responsibility to help address this challenge, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) and a bottler for The Coca-Cola Company, has committed to help collect a bottle or can for every single one it sells by 2030.
This focuses on the entire packaging value chain, from how bottles and cans are designed and made, to how they’re collected, recycled and reused later.
The company will also use 50% recycled content in all packaging and make 25% of its packaging reusable by 2030, while making all its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025.
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