Coca-Cola Europacific Partners converts all GB sites to tethered cap bottles
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) GB has completed the roll out of its attached cap plastic bottles with production now underway at its manufacturing site in Morpeth, Northumberland, making it the final site to make the switch. The attached cap mechanic is the same as that of a normal cap. The innovation lies in the ring around the neck of the bottle, where a tether has been added to keep the cap firmly on the bottle so that it’s easier to collect and recycle them together. A message on the bottle cap reminds customers of the change with the caption: ‘I am attached to recycle together’.
When running at full capacity, Morpeth will be able to produce 17.5 million unit cases of attached cap plastic bottles of Glaceau Smartwater each year to be sold to customers across GB.
The phased roll out began two years ago across CCEP’s five manufacturing sites in GB (located in East Kilbride, Morpeth, Wakefield, Sidcup and Edmonton), with the line that produces Smartwater at Morpeth and the line that produces Oasis packaging at CCEP’s Edmonton site the last to have made the switch this spring. This is part of a £7.5m (US $9.5m) investment to reconfigure the existing lines to manufacture plastic bottles with attached caps, including the acceleration of rPET in 500ml plastic bottles from 50% to 100%, and the roll out of sustainable cardboard outliers to replace plastic shrink wrap on all multi-pack cans, which has concluded this year.
