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Coca-Cola Recycles 10.5m Bottles As Part Of London 2012

2 October 2012

Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sets an inspirational sustainability standard for future sporting events

The Coca-Cola System in Great Britain (Coca-Cola), announced that it has recycled 10.5m bottles collected from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, returning them to GB shelves as part of new bottles.

This will result in 42m bottles, each containing 25 percent rPET. The success of this large-scale bottle-to-bottle recycling process is part of Coca-Cola's commitment to helping the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) deliver the most sustainable Games possible

The opening of Continuum Recycling, Coca-Cola Enterprises' new £15m joint venture recycling facility with ECO Plastics, allowed over 10.5m clear plastic bottles from London 2012 venues to be recycled within just six weeks of disposal, saving an estimated 310 tonnes of carbon.

During the Games, Coca-Cola sought to educate people about the speed with which a plastic bottle could now be turned into a brand new bottle in this country. Nielsen research commissioned by Coca-Cola shows that 70 percent of visitors surveyed at London 2012 said, on learning this, they would now be more likely to recycle at home.

Simon Baldry, managing director of Coca-Cola Enterprises in GB, said: "We always saw the Games as an important catalyst for our ongoing efforts to build a low carbon, zero waste business here in GB.

The results of Coca-Cola's most sustainable sponsorship activation to date have been published in a new report authored by Good Business, a leading sustainability strategy consultancy. It sets out a number of world-class sustainability initiatives across waste, climate change and health & wellness, delivered in partnership with organisations including WWF and WRAP, that Coca-Cola hopes will inspire future events organisers.　　

Darrel Moore