Coca-Cola HBC brings together all ingredients to close the packaging loop in one of its key markets

The strategic bottling partner to The Coca-Cola Company is on track to deliver almost 50% rPET use across its EU and Swiss markets by end of 2023.

Coca-Cola HBC has taken another significant step towards its vision of creating a circular economy for its packaging with the opening of a new in-house recycled plastic (rPET) production facility in Romania.

Following an €11m investment, including €3.5m of state aid, Coca-Cola HBC Romania has begun to produce recycled packaging (rPET) in-house, providing a steady supply of high quality rPET for its 100% recycled bottle portfolio.

The move sees Romania become the first market within the group to combine three key pillars of circularity: the use of 100% recycled bottles across the portfolio, an in-house rPET production facility, and a soon-to-be-launched deposit return scheme to help collect back the bottles and cans for further recycling.

Coca-Cola HBC Romania will also be the first beverage producer in the market to produce rPET in-house and is the third rPET decontamination facility in operation across Coca-Cola HBC’s markets. 

The launch also marked a milestone moment for the whole Coca-Cola HBC Group. In 2022, 22% of the PET plastic used across Coca-Cola HBC’s EU and Swiss markets was from recycled material. With the investment in Romania, and transitions to recycled bottle portfolios Coca-Cola HBC markets of Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Ireland and Northern Ireland, the company is on track to deliver almost 50% rPET use in EU and Swiss markets by the end of 2023. This achievement is a year ahead of the 2025 deadline set by the company as part of the UNESDA circular packaging vision for EU markets.

The company is also supporting the introduction of well-designed, industry-led Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) in many of its markets - schemes that typically achieve a 90% collection rate for bottles and cans. There are currently five DRS active across Coca-Cola HBC markets, with six more coming on stream by the end of 2025. Romania’s scheme is set to be introduced this December.

Coca-Cola HBC has made a commitment to achieve net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040 and, as packaging accounts for approximately a third of Coca-Cola HBC’s carbon footprint, it is priority area.

The ability to produce food-grade rPET brings multiple benefits, including significant reductions in emissions across the value chain. Bottles made from recycled PET have an 80% lower carbon footprint than virgin PET resin,¹ and all electricity used by the production line is from 100% renewable sources.

In the last two years, €377 million has been invested in initiatives that contribute towards the Coca-Cola HBC Group’s sustainability agenda. Since 2010, while emissions globally have risen, Coca-Cola HBC has halved its direct emissions and achieved a 30% emissions reduction across its entire supply chain.

¹ Calculated based on an industry average conversion by IFEU, Institute for Environmental and Energy Research, using Plastics Europe database