Coca-Cola HBC has made 100% of its PET, glass, aluminum, and aseptic carton primary packaging fully recyclable since 2022, three years ahead of its 2025 goal, Packaging Europe reported.
This achievement is a step forward for Coca-Cola HBC's Mission 2025 commitments, which also include recovering 75% of primary packaging and incorporating 35% recycled or renewable materials into polyethylene terephthalate bottles.
While the recyclable design goal has been met, the company still faces challenges with its other targets, having recovered only 56% of primary packaging.
The company has supported various collection projects to improve recycling rates, particularly in developing markets where waste management infrastructure needs strengthening.
One example is Romania, which became the first market in the Coca-Cola HBC Group to combine 100% recycled PET bottles with an in-house recycling facility and a deposit return scheme.
Several other markets have made progress too. By the end of 2023, all locally produced plastic bottles in Austria, Romania, Switzerland, Italy (excluding water), Northern Ireland, and Ireland had transitioned to 100% recycled PET. Across all European Union and Swiss markets, the recycled content reached 42%, though the global average was just 16%.
The company has also rolled out innovative packaging solutions such as label-free water bottles in Switzerland and the KeelClip system that eliminates plastic from can multipacks in 22 countries. These efforts support Coca-Cola HBC's Net Zero by 2040 goal, as packaging materials account for 36% of the company's value chain pollution.
"Without the appropriate infrastructure to back them up, ambitious sustainability targets can end up harming a company's reputation more than helping it," said Packaging Europe, paraphrasing Calvin Lakhan, director of the Circular Innovation Hub at York University. Lakhan suggested that "companies should collaborate with policymakers and industry leaders to fulfil their promises."
These efforts are positive, but they don't tell the whole story. The Coca-Cola Company recently pushed its deadlines for its recycling and recycled content goals to 2035. And the beverage industry as a whole still has a long way to go to address its environmental impact.
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