Coca-Cola invests €11m in Romania plastic-recycling plant

Coca-Cola bottler Hellenic Bottling Partners (Coca-Cola HBC) has invested €11m ($11.6) in a plastic recycling plant producing rPET bottles.

It is also set to launch a deposit return scheme (DRS) to collect bottles and cans for further recycling as part of the group’s move towards an in-house circular-economy model.

Once the DRS is in place, Romania will become the group’s first market to use 100% recycled bottles across the portfolio which can be returned and recycled in house.

The move sees the plant “providing a steady supply of high-quality rPET for its 100% recycled bottle portfolio”.

The €11m development was funded by €3.5m of state aid.

In a statement yesterday (23 October) the Romanian subsidiary of the group said it would also be the first beverage producer in the market to produce rPET in-house, becoming the third rPET decontamination facility in operation across Coca-Cola HBC’s markets.

With this investment in Romania, and the transition to recycled-bottle portfolios in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Ireland and Northern Ireland, the company said it was “on track to deliver almost 50% rPET use in EU and Swiss markets by the end of 2023”.

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