Announcing the move yesterday, the Coca-Cola bottler said the move will save about 4,000 tonnes of single-use plastic a year. The scheme is part of the Coca-Cola network’s pledge to reduce plastic usage and environmental waste.
Plastic shrink wrap is used to keep individual products together while they are being transported and sold to customers as multipacks.
According to CCEP, the wrap is harder to recycle than some other plastics as many markets do not have collection schemes for it. “As a result, much of it currently ends up in landfill or as packaging waste,” the company said.
The shrink wrap will be replaced with 100% recyclable cardboard from a sustainable source, CCEP added.
Joe Franses, VP of Sustainability at CCEP, said:
“We know that consumers are seeking more sustainable alternatives for packaging. We are committed to removing all unnecessary single-use plastic from our products and by moving our can multipacks to cardboard, we are helping people to enjoy our products knowing that the packaging won’t end up as waste or litter in rivers and oceans.”
Companies across the Coca-Cola system have announced a number of plastic initiatives in the two years since The Coca-Cola Co first released its World Without Waste programme.
Recent examples include an increase in the number of free-to-use Dasani water fountains in the US.
In June, Coca-Cola Amatil said it will switch all of its carbonated soft drinks plastic bottles in Australia to 100% recycled material.
REFS
Published on just-drinks.com
Coca-Cola European Partners ditches multipack shrink wrap in new plastics pledge
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