Coca-Cola to make some beverage bottles with recycled plastic by 2024
Some Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta beverages will soon be made with recycled plastic.
The Coca-Cola Company announced Thursday (Oct. 26) that all its 500 ml sparkling beverage bottles in Canada will be made with recycled plastic, excluding caps and labels, by 2024.
"With this transition, no virgin PET plastic will be used for our sparkling 500mL bottles under normal circumstances going forward in Canada," said Kurt Ritter, vice-president and general manager, sustainability, Coca-Cola North America, in a statement. "We hope that transitioning our 500mL sparkling portfolio to 100% recycled plastic will increase the amount of high-quality, food-grade, recycled plastic available in Canada and, ultimately, enable us to offer more of our brands in this sustainable format."
The decision is part of the company’s World Without Waste mission to use at least 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030, and to reduce the use of virgin plastic.
The new recycled plastic bottles will be produced locally at the Brampton, Ont., Calgary, Lachine, Que., and Richmond, B.C. manufacturing facilities by Coke Canada Bottling.
"We're proud to partner with The Coca-Cola Company on our transition to 100% recycled plastic bottles across Canada," stated Todd Parsons, CEO of Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited. "We're on a journey to be the leading beverage partner in Canada, and one of the ways we're doing that is by earning our social license to operate by driving a circular economy for our packaging. Every one of these 100% recycled plastic bottles represents meaningful progress on that journey."
Coca-Cola Canada is celebrating the launch with a pop-up experiential activation in Toronto called The Replay Arcade.
Guests who bring in an empty plastic beverage bottle of any brand/size to be recycled will receive 12 game tokens and a Coca-Cola beverage in a recycled plastic bottle.
The Replay Arcade, located at Stackt Market at 28 Bathurst Street, will be open Nov. 10 to 12 from 12 p.m. until 8 p.m. Entry is free.
