Coca-Cola has announced it has set a comprehensive goal to recycle or reuse 100 percent of the company’s PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles in the U.S. In addition, the company announced it will expand its relationship with Philadelphia-based RecycleBank in an effort to boost consumer recycling rates.

Coca-Cola is also investing more than $60 million to build the world’s largest plastic-bottle-to-bottle recycling plant and support recycling in the U.S.

Coca-Cola and United Resource Recovery Corp. will build its new recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C. The plant will produce approximately 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic for reuse each year - the equivalent of producing nearly two billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles.

The new 30-acre Spartanburg plant will open in 2008 and will be fully operational in 2009. Over the next 10 years, the Spartanburg recycling plant is expected to eliminate the production of one million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions - the equivalent of removing 21,500 cars from the road.

Coca-Cola has been focused on PET recycling and reuse since introducing the first beverage bottle made with recycled material in 1991. Since then, Coca-Cola has worked with URRC and other partners to accelerate the development and commercialization of environmentally-efficient and sustainable recycling technologies throughout the world.

Today, The Coca-Cola Company uses recycled content in more than 17 countries, including the United States.

RecycleBank currently operates in southern New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania and will be launching service in upstate New York, Vermont and Massachusetts in the fall of 2007.

RecycleBank plans to be in 100,000 homes by the end of 2007. The additional investment will support a national rollout of the RecycleBank program by 2009.

RecycleBank leverages new technology and innovative consumer incentives to substantially increase household recycling participation and rates. Since its launch in 2003, RecycleBank has driven recycling rates in Philadelphia from 15 percent to more than 50 percent, and household participation from 30 percent to 90 percent.

“RecycleBank makes recycling easier and more convenient for consumers,” said Scott Vitters, director of sustainable packaging, The Coca-Cola Company. “While consumers reap the rewards of recycling through RecycleBank incentives, businesses also benefit through the increased collection of valuable, reusable materials like PET.”

Link: Philadelphia/RecycleBank Triple Recycling in Pilot Areas

9/7/2007