EK factory leads the way with eco caps
Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola’s East Kilbride plant is leading the way in the battle against plastic waste with an innovative new design of its bottles.
Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB), in partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), has announced it is introducing new, attached caps to its plastic bottles, making it easier to recycle the entire package and ensure no cap gets left behind.
Production of bottles with attached caps started last week at CCEP’s site in the town’s College Milton with new caps attached to 1.5l bottles of Fanta, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke.
The switch is set to be completed for all plastic bottles across Coca-Cola GB’s range of brands by early 2024.
All of Coca-Cola’s bottles, including the caps, have been 100 per cent recyclable for many years but not all are being recycled as bottle caps are often discarded and littered.
The new design means that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, so the whole plastic bottle and attached cap can be recycled together, reducing the potential for it to be littered.
Working in partnership with CCEP, CocaCola is the first major soft drinks company to announce the switch across its entire range in Great Britain.
Last year CCEP announced that it had reached its target of using 100 per cent recycled plastic – excluding caps and labels – in all its 500ml or smaller bottles sold in Great Britain ahead of schedule, helping to save around 29,000 tonnes of plastic per year.
CCEP is starting the changeover to attached caps initially from its bottling plant in East Kilbride followed later this year by its site in Edmonton, North London, and the rest of its sites in GB over the next 18 months.
Seamus Kerrigan, operations director at CCEP in East Kilbride, said: “We are very proud to be leading the way as the first site in GB to start production of plastic bottles with attached caps.
“The milestone follows significant investment in our production lines to prepare for this – and other manufacturing innovations - to produce some of the most loved, well-known global brands in the most sustainable way possible, from right here in East Kilbride.
“Last year saw the introduction of on-thego bottles made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, and the transition from plastic to paper straws on Capri-Sun, which is also produced here.
“This latest milestone is a huge achievement and I’m excited to see where we’ll go next.”