Coca-Cola unveils 100% recycled plastic bottles in HK as part of sustainability drive

The Coca-Cola Company has unveiled the 500ml bottles made entirely out of recycled plastic for its soft drink in Hong Kong, as part of its latest sustainability efforts in beverage packaging.

Under the initiative, all 500ml Coca-Cola original, Coca-Cola no sugar and Coca-Cola plus have transitioned to using 100% rPET for their bottle production, excluding caps and labels.

As the first-ever Coca-Cola trademark packaging made from 100% rPET in Hong Kong, the new packaging features "I'm a 100% rPET bottle" and "Recycle me again" messages, aiming to build recycling awareness and encourage consumer action.

While the primary focus of adopting 100% recycled plastic bottles is centred around reducing the number of bottles in the environment, the brand also aims to set the tone for other beverage brands to follow, said Tim Warwick (pictured), vice president of operations for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Mongolia, The Coca-Cola Company, during an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

“What we're looking to do now with Coca-Cola, is to lead by example, and walk the talk, and then make sure that other beverage players have the pressure they need to move to 100% rPET. And then when we do that, there'll be such demand that everything will have to be taken out of the environment and go straight into new life plastics (NLP), which will help mostly,” he said.

The best way to do that is to create demand for used bottles by transitioning to 100% rPET.

He also said this is the latest effort from Coca-Cola Hong Kong to make its beverage packaging more sustainable. To support The Coca-Cola Company's World Without Waste strategy, the brand has been taking a bold, innovative approach to sustainability and is now doubling down on its rPET packaging effort to help drive its sustainability agenda forward.

Given that the Hong Kong government will implement the municipal solid waste charging scheme on 1 August 2024, Warwick said the scheme could potentially provide Coca-Cola with additional resources of rPET, allowing it to produce more 100% recycled plastic bottles for a wider range of products.

“By putting a price on plastic bottles, we're confident that consumers will then begin to recycle, that's going to help provide more quality and quantity for NLP. And that's going to allow us to be able to have more availability of our rPET, so we can then expand even further across the portfolio,” he said.

Warwick added:

For us, it's about driving the sustainable long-term change. And if we can do that, as an industry leader, and get others to follow us, that's exactly what we're looking to achieve.

To further speed up the circular economy for plastic in the city, the Coca-Cola system in Hong Kong has partnered with Drink Without Waste to invest HK$3 million in 2024 to support a new neighbourhood collection scheme by mobilising participating housing estates, their cleaners and the resident households to build a recycling habit and mechanism. Each resident in Hong Kong is invited to separate and recycle plastic bottles to help build a plastic bottle "recycling loop".

Moving forward, Warwick said Coca-Cola aims to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle, or can it produces by 2030. “We are working with industry bodies such as Drink Without Waste (DWW) (免「廢」暢飲), and the government to make sure that we can improve the education and the communication to all those cleaners and helpers out there that can help bring those back,” he added.

Another highlight is the significant investment the brand has been making in New Life Plastics, Hong Kong's first food-grade-ready plastic recycling facility. It will have sufficient capacity to recycle each PET bottle it sells by 2030 as part of its World Without Waste ambitions.

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