ant, one of the UK’s biggest users of packaging, has released its latest sustainability update which said it used around 178,000 tonnes of packaging, including glass, aluminium and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, as well as secondary packaging for safe transportation of its products, such as cardboard, plastic shrink-wrap and film.Almost half of the plastic bottles in the UK (47%) can now be reprocessed as a result of the company’s Continuum Recyclcing joint venture with ECO Plastics.
Packaging materials represent nearly 52% of the carbon emissions across CCE’s value chain, and the company said is working to reduce its carbon footprint by using more sustainable packaging.
Last month CCE announced it had achieved a 23% reduction in the carbon footprint of its core business operations since 2007, ahead of its 15% target.
CCE also highlighted its annual £52m investment in equipment and premises in Great Britain.
The drinks company says it is focusing on ‘lightweighting,’ to redesign and reduce the weight ‘as far as is technically possible’.
In 2013, the 500ml PET bottle were reduced from 24.7g to 21.7g and CCE expects to reduce them further to 19.9g this year.
The large PET bottles have been improved with lighter, shorter closures, and CCE’s can ends have also been lightweighted.
“In 2014, we plan to further reduce our large 1.3 litre; 1.75 litre and 2 litre PET packs from 41.7g to 40.3g and to develop the next generation of lightweight closures,” read CCE’s latest sustainability report.
CCE said it has made it a priority to increase the recycled content of aluminium in its cans and support campaigns such as ‘Metal Matters’ to encourage consumers to recycle more.
In addition to using recycled PET (rPET), the drinks giant said it was addressing the use of virgin PET and focussing on using a its renewable PlantBottle plastic source, which contains up to 22.5% plant-based material and 25% rPET.
“We believe a combination of rPET and PlantBottle represent the best environmental solution,” it said.
CCE also invested heavily in the infrastructure for collecting and reprocessing materials with the Continuum Recycling facility in Lincolnshire. In May 2013, it celebrated its one-year anniversary by reaching the milestone of half a billion bottles processed since opening in May 2012. Since then the plant has recycled more than a billion bottles and is capable of reprocessing nearly 50% of all the plastic bottles collected in the UK.
The drinks giant also undertook a research study with Exeter University to improve the understanding of recycling behaviour in the home.
The next stage of the project is a partnership with the online innovation platform, OpenIDEO, to invite and develop ideas through crowdsourcing to encourage consumers to recycle more.
Additionally, CCE ran a number of recycling partnerships with retailers to encourage consumers to recycle more at home.
These included the ‘Together We’re Making Recycling Count’ online campaign With Tesco, and the ‘Don’t Waste. Create’ sustainability initiative launched with Sainsbury’s.
Nick Brown, CCE associate director for recycling GB, told Packaging News he believed 20m people got involved in recycling activities last year through these initiatives.
He added that other companies heavily involved in packaging should be able to tell their story.
“The industry can do a better job explaining what it is doing with regards to sustainability. It is about everyone understanding how they can contribute to improving the reputation of the packaging industry.”
He said the soft drinks industry has positive momentum through the British Soft Drinks association’s Sustainability Road Map, and hoped to see that build further.
