PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2020

BOTTLE MAKING 26 PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 10/20 www.petpla.net Coca-Cola Brazil recognised for refPET bottle Returnable, refillable & recyclable A PET bottle that can be reused 25 times is at the heart of Coca-Cola Brazil’s returnable bottle initiative. For this Uni- versal Returnable Bottle, Coca-Cola Brazil and its partners have been awarded multiple times, most recently with the Bronze award at the World Star Packaging Awards 2020. The original Coca-Cola glass bottle was designed to be distinctive, immediately recognisable and reus- able. Since 2000, the trend has been towards PET bottles, along with a wider range of designs, which made the handling of returnable packag- ing a complex and expensive activity. In 2018, Coca-Cola in Latin America established an Agile team, which included bottlers and key suppliers, to develop solutions to encourage and stimulate returnable packaging. A Universal Bottle with renewable labelling was a pillar for the relaunch of the Returnable Platform across Latin America. “This Returnable Platform is a E2E approach delivering a integrated solu- tion balancing sustainability, consumer centric, supply chain efficiency and other key aspects that guarantee the successes of this initiative for Latam for next decades” said Paulo Villas, Technical Operations Director and agile team member. Goals: a range of refillable bottles The packaging solution begins with a refillable PET (refPET) 2 l bottle and evolve to include a range of refPET bottle sizes and glass, as well, and incorporate a labelling and label extrac- tion system. By 2017, Coca-Cola’s Brazil packag- ing portfolio was already 100% recy- clable (PET, glass, aluminium, HDPE etc) and the company had reduced the weight of PET packaging by 17% since 2008. Its sustainability goals included 30% refillable packaging by 2020 (35% by 2025), 100% effective disposal through trash collection channels and progressing to recycled resin comprising 50% of total material used. The strategy to achieve these goals and build a cir- cular economy model, as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, includes investment in recycling cooperatives, redesign for 100% recyclability, and 20% of packaging being reusable (which the company already surpassed). TCCC packaging design guidelines has been adopted for many years and includes project covering all aspects, including choice of material, analysis of their recyclability, use of colour, and quantity of resin used etc. SIPA