The Coca-Cola Company has announced that Sprite will switch to clear PET bottles in Southeast Asia.
The shift from the iconic green bottle will boost collection and recycling, the beverage giant said.
Public affairs, communications, and sustainability director at Coca-Cola ASEAN, Belinda Ford, said, "We are beginning the transition this month in the Philippines, our largest market in ASEAN, and will expand to other markets in Southeast Asia through 2020."
The firm announced the decision to switch during SEA of Solutions 2019 in Bangkok, a partnership week aimed at inspiring market-based solutions to reduce marine-based pollution.
It has also pledged to work with industry peers to establish Packaging Recovery Organisations (PROs) in ASEAN, with Vietnam’s first PRO set to become operational in early 2020.
'Circular Economy'
CEO and founder of GA Circular, Ashwin Subramaniam, welcomed the decisions and said, "Our research in six countries across Southeast Asia has shown that a change from coloured PET to transparent PET greatly increases the value of the plastic in the after-use market and therefore its ability to remain in a circular economy and be used again and again for different purposes."
Sprite's green bottles are also being replaced with clear PET packaging in Western Europe. The initiative is part of the company's efforts to achieve its global 'World Without Waste' goals.
Coca-Cola’s global World Without Waste initiative aims to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each piece that it sells, by 2030.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
