Durban, 17 September 2020 – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) employees and community members are coming together to clean-up South Africa’s beaches, starting in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and proceeding to the Eastern Cape coast as part of Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa’s (CCBSA) International Coastal Clean-up campaign.
Crews including CCBSA employees and volunteers will give their time to collect and document trash that litters the South African coastline and contribute towards destroying marine life.
In KZN, CCBSA has partnered with the KZN Marine Network and other stakeholders, including Ethekwini Municipality, Plastic SA and the South African PET Recycling Company (Petco) in a clean-up of the Amanzimtoti Surf Lifesaving Club (Amanzimtoti Main Beach), KZN and Naval Island in Richards Bay. CCBSA will hand over a Beach Rake with a unimog which will be operated by Clean Surf. The unimog will remove small particles of plastic that cannot be picked up by hand.
Port Elizabeth volunteers will meet at the Beacon in Summestrand on 19 September,
at the intersection of Marine Drive and Admiralty Way and on 25 September at East London’s Eastern Beach.
“Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging is one of the most preferred packing materials by both manufacturing companies and consumers. Unfortunately, post-consumer waste is contributing towards environmental degradation. We therefore have a responsibility to collect waste to ensure it does not make its way into landfills,” says Nozicelo Ngcobo, Public Affairs, Communication & Sustainability Director, CCBSA.
Ngcobo added that as part of Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste Vision 2030, the company is investing in a circular economy where it collects and recycles a bottle or can for each one it sells by 2030, creating employment opportunities for many, including informal waste reclaimers.
“Consumers are an integral part of our waste collection value chain and it is our responsibility as a producer to ensure our PET makes its way through our recycling system,” Ngcobo continues. “These clean-ups leverage our three World Without Waste Vision 2030 strategic pillars, which are to Design, Collect and Partner. As we continuously invest in innovations to better build packaging and explore packaging-free alternatives, we also remain committed to reducing waste by collecting for re-use while working with strategic partners to make the vision a reality.”
The clean-up is a national partnership with Plastics SA, coinciding with Clean-up and Recycle Week which runs every September. Last year, the nationwide clean-ups attracted
13 428 volunteers who collected and filled 1 952 bags of waste, focusing specifically on PET plastic used in the bottling of soft drinks.
CCBSA is dedicated to recycling and contributing to a World Without Waste and invests significant resources in reaching and exceeding recycling targets.
In November 2019, CCBSA launched its first refundable, returnable, refillable PET (RefPET) plastic bottle for its 2L bottle for Coke Original Less Sugar, Fanta, Sprite and Coke-No Sugar in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West and parts of Gauteng. The bottle, which offers consumers value-for-money, can be used for as long as the product standard allows and is good for the environment. “The latest climate change forecasts, as well as analysis of the impact of waste on ocean and aquatic wildlife, shows that it is more urgent than ever to reduce waste,” Ngcobo says. “Our continued efforts, combining the resources of corporations, the public sector and consumers contribute to a more holistic culture shift about our collective impact on the environment. Over the long term, we wish to see these clean-up activities taking place organically throughout the year, and not just during this time of the year.”
