MD, Velaphi Ratshefola, explains that the roll-out constitutes a significant investment by CCBSA in a new packaging line to ensure that the PET bottles comply with global standards for design, hygiene and safety for PET packaging.
Once a bottle is returned to CCBSA, it goes on a looped journey to be cleaned to Coca-Cola’s stringent measures and requirements, it’s then refilled to start its next lifecycle. When the bottle reaches the end of its useable lifecycle, it joins the regional recycling value chain and is repurposed into another PET product.
The local Coca-Cola system currently uses an average of 8% recycled content in its plastic bottles – the more bottles that are collected and recycled, the more recycled content the company can use in its bottles.
‘The Coca-Cola Company is committed to increasing recycled material in its packaging and ensuring it collects and recycles the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells globally by 2030 as part of its World Without Waste vision. The roll-out of returnable PET plastic bottles is another way CCBSA can support a circular economy in South Africa. We plan to identify geographies in the rest of the country to continue the expansion of this project over a five-year period,’ concludes Velaphi.
