Johannesburg, South Africa – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) joined hands with local communities and partners and took part in Coastal Cleanup activities during September, helping to reduce packaging waste.
Areas where the clean ups took place included Plettenberg Bay, Richards Bay, Durban, Gqeberha, Aspen Heights, and the South Coast. CCBSA partnered with local municipalities and organisations such as the Garden Route District Municipality, City of Umhlathuze, The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), eThekwini Municipality, Sustainable Seas Trust, and Aspen Heights Ratepayers Association as part of the cleanup efforts.
“Water, packaging and climate challenges are interconnected, and so are the solutions we support,” says Basetsana-Bame Modimogale, Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Director for CCBSA, a company in the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa group. “We design and collect our packaging to help reduce waste.”
To support its packaging strategy, in 2019, CCBSA rolled out its innovative 2L returnable bottle. After first launching in the Eastern Cape, it has since been expanded to Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, parts of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
The 2L returnable bottle looks similar to regular plastic bottles, but it is designed to be returned, cleaned, and refilled multiple times, just like the returnable glass bottles. It has a green “RETURNABLE” label on the front of the bottle, which helps consumers identify it easily. The same bottle can be refilled several times before being recycled, which helps reduce packaging waste.
The refillable bottle helps consumers re-use and recycle more often. After they have consumed the beverage, consumers can take the empty bottle to their local store to buy any 2L returnable PET plastic beverage and use the bottle as their deposit. This means they immediately benefit from the cost-saving return-and-refill model while enjoying the same great-tasting, high-quality beverages they know and love.
“We offer beverages in a variety of packaging formats including glass and plastic bottles, aluminium cans and refillable packaging. Each option can play a role in helping reduce packaging waste and emissions. We are focusing efforts to use more recycled material in primary packaging and supporting collection rates, both of which require enabling policies and the growth of collection infrastructure. We intend to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists and aim to focus on measurable and interconnected actions under two pillars: Design and Partner to Collect,” said Modimogale.
Furthermore, Coca-Cola and other like-minded parties came together in 2004 to set up the PET Recycling Company (PETCO) in South Africa to support and promote the collection and recycling of PET plastic, taking responsibility for recovering and recycling PET plastic beverage bottles.
Extended producer responsibility initiatives such as this encourage the incorporation of environmental costs associated with PET products into product market costs and establish partnerships to take responsibility for used packaging.
“Collective action is needed to support packaging collection infrastructure and policies. We will continue to focus on increased advocacy for well-designed collection systems, as these are often the most efficient ways to improve packaging collection rates,” concluded Modimogale.
These efforts align with The Coca-Cola Company’s goals to use 35% to 40% recycled material in primary packaging (plastic, glass, and aluminium), reduce packaging waste, and achieve its global target of collecting 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans it introduces into the market by 2035.
