The Coca-Cola company recently announced that it has made two investments to speed the development and deployment of breakthrough enhanced recycling technologies that will convert recycled plastic into food-grade PET for use in the company’s beverage bottles.
Firstly, the soft drinks giant is extending a loan to Ioniqa Technologies to support the development of its technology for PET upcycling.
Enhanced recycling uses the process of depolymerization, where the PET plastic (polymer) is converted back into its original building blocks (monomers), which are easier to purify.
This process defuses a variety of recycle plastics into the purified building blocks which can then be made into a clear, high-quality PET.
“Enhanced recycling is one technology needed to drive a circular economy,” Scott Pearson, senior director, Global R&D Engineering, The Coca-Cola Company, said.
“It’s a big next step... but it’s not the only step. We still want to minimize the use of virgin plastics and continue to lightweight our packaging and use as little material as possible. All of this work ladders up to our destination to close the loop on our packaging materials.”
Loop Industries
The company also has established a framework with Loop Industries for authorised bottlers to purchase 100% recycled Loop PET.
Through Coca-Cola European Partners, it has entered a multi-year supply agreement with Loop for use in its packaging across Western Europe by 2020.
This agreement will allow the Coca-Cola system to accelerate the increased use of recycled content in its plastic bottles.
Both moves are in line with the company’s World Without Waste vision, which focuses on the entire packaging lifecycle – from how bottles and cans are designed and made, to how they’re recycled and repurposed.
“These two agreements represent exciting opportunities for a real step change in our move towards a circular economy by bringing low-quality PET waste back to virgin-quality, food-grade PET,” said Robert Long, chief innovation officer, The Coca-Cola Company.
“We are committed to ongoing investment in developing the right partnerships and initiatives to support our goal of a World without Waste.”
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
