Coca-Cola enterprises: transforming recycling in Britain (united kingdom)

When it identified that most plastic bottles collected in Britain were being sent abroad, Coca-Cola Enterprises invested ￡5m in the largest bottle recycling facility in the world. It's just one example of the bold steps the company is taking to meet its aim of transforming recycling in this country.

Recycling initiatives have been established across every part of Coca-Cola's business, from manufacturing and procurement to marketing and working with government to improve collection systems. They're all part of a comprehensive sustainability strategy that sets out a clear journey towards a "low-carbon, zero-waste business".

For waste and recycling, the company's approach is carbon driven. Packaging accounts for 48% of Coca-Cola's cradle-to-grave carbon footprint – to lower its carbon footprint, the company needs to address how it produces packaging, the quality of recycling schemes to support collection, and the behaviour of consumers.

Including recycled materials in its bottles is one area that has a significant bearing on the business's net carbon impact. On track to meet its target to include 25% recycled content in every PET bottle by 2012, Coca-Cola recently launched PlantBottle packaging. This innovative PET bio-plastic bottle is made partially from plants that looks and recycles like PET but reduces the company's reliance on fossil fuels. Today, 98% of its packs are recyclable, compared to an industry norm of 60 – 75%.

To tackle consumer behaviour the company developed campaigns with ASDA and Sainsbury's supermarkets to inspire people to recycle. Coca-Cola also set up a programme with WRAP, promising to establish 80 Recycle Zones by 2011 – with 135 now established it is the largest out-of-home recycling initiative in Britain.

The company is unique in building consumer promotions around recycling messages. A sponsor of London 2012, Coca-Cola will use its brand presence to promote and encourage recycling. The protocol developed for the Games was awarded the new BS8901 standard for sustainable event management and has been shared with every event recycling manager in the country.

Coca-Cola will recycle every clear PET bottle disposed of during the games at its own new Recycling Joint Venture facility. Creating a step change both within the industry and its own business, the venture will more than double the amount of high quality recycled PET produced in the country today.

It's by taking steps like this that the company is going beyond traditional sustainability models, based on a company's own operations, to make genuine inroads into the entire packaging lifecycle.