SOFT drinks giant Coca-Cola Ireland has moved to 100 per cent recycled plastic across its entire soft drinks portfolio (which includes Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta and Sprite).
It has invested €20 million (£17m) in recent years in developing sustainable packaging solutions through enhancement of its state-of-the-art bottling plant in Lisburn and in the purchase of recycled plastic material in that period. It also introduced KeelClip packaging to the market.
And these key sustainability milestones, it says, will lead to Coca-Cola on the island of Ireland eliminating an additional 7,100 tonnes of virgin plastic a year from circulation.
It comes as the global brand's regional division Coca-Cola HBC - which operates from a plant at Knockmore Hill in Lisburn - revealed that its sales in 2022 were up be more than 23 per cent from £236.5 million to £291.2 million.
Pre-tax profits fell back from £39.2m to £37.6m, but on a bottom-line basis it retained £35.2 million - broadly in line with the previous year.
Results filed with Companies House showed that it had an average of 429 staff on its books in Lisburn, where its wages bill rose to £26.7m from £23.9m a year earlier.
Following adjustments, it also reduced its corporation tax bill over the year from £1,741,361 to less than a fifth of that (£307,295).
Coca-Cola locally has taken a series of measures in recent years to reduce its packaging footprint and improve collection systems that support a circular economy for plastic bottles and cans.
On its latest announcement around green issues, its HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland general manager Davide Franzetti said: “As the bottling partner for The Coca-Cola Company, we have accelerated the move to sustainable packaging ensuring Ireland remains one step ahead of the global targets by incorporating more recycled material in our packaging.
“The shift to using 100 per cent recycled plastic in our bottles will help eliminate 7,100 tonnes of virgin plastic from circulation annually, and in conjunction with the introduction a deposit return scheme (DRS) in Ireland early next year, will also support our move towards ensuring all of our bottles are used, recovered, recycled and reused, again and again.”
He added: “We are committed to driving forward our World Without Waste programme on the island of Ireland as we work with others to address waste and climate issues created by packaging.”
