MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last week, Unilever announced that it will derive 100% of the chemicals used in its cleaning and laundry product formulations from renewable or recycled carbon by 2030, eliminating its use of fossil fuel-derived carbon in the sector, said Chemweek.
This move, like Coca-Cola's, could point to a possible trend emerging among the world's leading consumer brands to reduce their reliance on fossil-fuel based chemicals.
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP; Uxbridge, UK), a Coca-Cola subsidiary, says that Coca-Cola in the Netherlands and Coca-Cola in Norway will transition from using bottles made with virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET), to bottles made from 100% recycled PET (rPET). Coca-Cola in the Netherlands says that from October 2020 it will transition all its locally-produced small plastic bottles to 100% rPET, including brands such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta, with large plastic bottles following in 2021. Coca-Cola in Norway will transition to 100% rPET for all plastic bottles that it produces locally during the first half of 2021, it says.
The announcements follow that of Coca-Cola in Sweden in December 2019, which was the first subsidiary to switch to 100% rPET, CCEP says. They support Coca-Cola’s ambition in Western Europe to accelerate toward the use of 100% rPET and the elimination of virgin PET in all its bottles within a decade, the company says. The gradual transition to 100% rPET in Western Europe is expected to contribute to removing a total of more than 200,000 metric tons/year of virgin PET from Coca-Cola’s packaging portfolio, CCEP says.
According to CCEP, the switch to 100% rPET in the Netherlands will eliminate the use of more than 10,000 metric tons of virgin plastic, amounting to a 21% annual reduction in the carbon footprint of its plastic bottles compared with the rPET level before the transition. Its portfolio in the Netherlands already consists of more than 50% recycled PET.
The transition in Norway will remove about 4,300 metric tons of virgin plastic annually, delivering a 28% reduction in the carbon footprint of the company's plastic bottles. Its portfolio in Norway currently consists of 25% rPET, it says.
Coca-Cola in the Netherlands and Coca-Cola in Norway will be the first companies in their respective countries to move their entire portfolio of locally-produced plastic bottles to 100% rPET, CCEP says. Rapidly expanding and effective deposit return schemes operational in the two countries have enabled the production of high-quality rPET resin in those markets, the company says.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 367,720 tonnes in the first six months of 2020, up by 19% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June. Russian plants reduced their PET output in January-June 2020 by 25% year on year. Overall PET chips production at four Russian plants reached 281,100 tonnes in January-June 2020.
CCEP is the sole licensed bottler for Coca-Cola products in Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
MRC