Coca-Cola is stepping up efforts to encourage consumers across ASEAN markets to recycle their empty beverage bottles.
New labels carry a bold, capitalised Recycle Me message which is significantly larger than old-style recycling logos buried under obligatory small print.
“We don’t want to see our bottles end up as litter,” said Matthias Blume, group marketing director frontline, Coca-Cola ASEAN & South Pacific. “We are committed to doing more and being part of the solution.”
Blume described the company’s bottles as “our biggest, most visible billboard”.
“This is our largest-ever move in the region to use our packaging to deliver a prominent recycling message and encourage action.”
The beverage giant says it is continuing to step up its support of packaging collection, recycling infrastructure and partnerships to combat marine debris across ASEAN.
Under a program called World Without Waste, launched in 2018, Coca-Cola is working towards achieving its zero-waste goal by 2030. It has committed to help collect and recycle the equivalent of a bottle or can for every one it sells globally by 2030, to make 100 per cent of its packaging recyclable by 2025, and to use at least 50 per cent recycled material in its packaging by 2030.
Across Southeast Asia, Coca-Cola has released bottles made from 100-per-cent recycled plastic in some of its biggest markets in the region, including the Philippines, and has switched from green to clear plastic bottles for its Sprite product – to make the empty bottles easier to recycle – in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Partnerships have been created with third-party companies to set up Packaging Recovery Organizations (PROs) in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia to speed up collection and recycling in each country.
In the Philippines, Coca-Cola is gearing up to launch a PET plastic recycling facility in partnership with Thailand-based Indorama Ventures, a specialist in packaging solutions and green technology, which will be the Philippines’ largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant when it becomes fully operational early next year.
“All our bottles and cans are recyclable by design. We want to use the power of our brands to encourage more people to recycle our bottles after they have enjoyed the drink, and help the packages have another life,” concluded Blume.
god i wish this was a joke