Coca-Cola Amatil (Aust) (CCA) has invested $450m to install PET bottle self-manufacture technology across its group in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
The technology will enable CCA to produce new lightweight bottles with 20% less PET plastic to reduce carbon footprint by 22% per every bottle.
For this initiative, the company has received a $1.3m from the Australian government funding to support an energy-saving project at its Richlands facility in Queensland.
The funding is part of the Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment program. The funds will be used to install PET bottle self-manufacture or blow-fill technology, which will cut down carbon emissions by 32% during the production line for 1.25l, 1.5l and 2l PET bottles.
CCA Queensland supply chain manager Dermot Hawkins said that the new installation will enable the company to increase bottle filling efficiency, increase production line performance, reduce CO2 wastage in the carbonation process and reduce energy costs.
"The technology will save CCA's Richlands facility up to $285,000 a year in energy costs," Hawkins added.
"It will also help safeguard us against rising energy expenses, while significantly reducing the environmental impact of our packaging."
Over the life of the project at the CCA Richlands facility, the new blending and filling (blow-fill) technology will be able to reduce the quantity of plastic in bottles by up to 35%, reduce energy usage by 40%, enable carbon savings of 27.07kt and enable energy saving of 234.6 TJ
