Coca-Cola European Partners has announced that it will introduce 100% rPET bottles in Netherlands and Norway as it is able to access high quality material from the deposit return schemes (DRS) in these countries.
After the announcement was made in December 2019 that Sweden would see plastic bottles made from 100% rPET, the Netherlands will follow with small bottles produced locally in October 2020 and larger bottles in 2021.
In the first half of 2021, Norway will switch to 100% rPET in the bottles it produces locally.
The switch to 100% rPET in the Netherlands will eliminate the use of more than 10,000 tonnes of new virgin based oil plastic, with 50% of the content already coming from recycled sources.
In Norway, around 4,300 tonnes of virgin plastic will be removed from use.
Coca-Cola European Partners vice president sustainability Joe Franses said: “Today’s announcement that Coca-Cola European Partners Netherlands and Coca-Cola European Partners Norway are making the switch to 100% rPET marks a vitally important step forwards on our journey to eliminating new virgin oil-based plastic across all our plastic bottles within a decade.
“Crucially, this announcement provides a compelling case for the role that Deposit Return Schemes can play in the creation of local circular economies for beverage packaging.
“Markets with well-designed DRS such as those in Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway not only have high collection rates but also have the capacity to collect a higher grade of material with less contamination.
“Coca-Cola in Western Europe is a firm supporter of the implementation of well-designed Deposit Return Schemes across Europe, recognising the role they can play as part of local, closed-loop recycling systems. We also remain committed to supporting innovative packaging and recycling technologies to help us reach our target of 50% recycled content across all our plastic bottles by 2023.”
