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How Coca-Cola Enterprises has embedded Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) into every aspect of its business |
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Background
Coca-Cola Enterprises is the world’s largest marketer, producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It operates in 46 U.S. states and Canada, and is the exclusive Coca-Cola bottler for all of Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco and the Netherlands.
While sparkling soft drinks represent Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) heritage, its portfolio now encompasses a full range of beverage categories, including energy drinks, still and sparkling waters, juices, sports drinks, fruit drinks, coffee-based beverages and teas.
First listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986 (NYSE: CCE), its roots go back to the birth of the Coca-Cola bottling business in the 19th century.
Key facts about Coca-Cola Enterprises:
- Sales represent 16% of The Coca-Cola Company’s worldwide volume
- World’s largest Coca-Cola bottler
- Over 70,000 employees worldwide
- Distributed 2 billion physical cases in 2008, equivalent to 42 billion bottles and cans
- Over $21 billion in annual revenue
(Source: www.cokecce.com 02/2010)
Aims & Objectives: Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Strategy
CCE’s commitment to Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) has never been stronger. It is embedded into every aspect of its business and integral to the future success of the business.
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Commitment 2020 |
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In 2009, it stepped up its commitment, developing a set of goals and targets to achieve by the year 2020 – known as "Commitment 2020" in five key areas.
It has redefined its overall goals and established a roadmap to achieving them by the year 2020. CCE is recognised as a CRS leader within the global Coca-Cola system, and it is working towards being seen as a CRS leader in the global beverage industry.
Project Milestones
Measuring the environmental impact of its supply chain
CCE embarked on an exercise to measure the impact of its business operations as well as the full lifecycle of some of its most iconic products. Understanding its carbon footprint helps CCE identify where it can be more efficient and effective in the long term.
Since completing this exercise, CCE now better understands the direct emissions that it controls, and the indirect emissions embedded within some of its products. This means it can work across its supply chain to reduce its environmental impact.
Areas measured to assess the impact of Coca-Cola Enterprises business operations
Top-level findings in Europe from the measurement exercise
CCE produced 796,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from its business across Europe in 2007:
- 65% was from cold drinks equipment
- 22% from manufacturing sites
- 13% from transportation of products
Breakdown of the carbon footprint by product
During 2008, CCE worked with the Carbon Trust to calculate the carbon footprint of a number of products in Great Britain, including a 330ml can.
The work indicated that packaging is the largest element of the carbon footprint of some of CCE products, including their 330ml can of Coca-Cola. (See diagram below for more details)
Carbon Footprint of a 330ml Coca-Cola can
By lightweighting, using recycled content and encouraging recycling CCE estimated that it could decrease the overall carbon footprint of its products by up to 60%.
Packaging and resource efficiency initiatives
Lightweighting
CCE has made meaningful progress in reducing the weight of its packaging, which not only helps avoid using valuable virgin materials, but also to reduce carbon emissions over the entire life cycle of a beverage container.
Examples of lightweighting of products in Europe
CCE has reduced the size of the plastic twist-off on sparkling beverages, and has reduced the weight of cans, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles and glass bottles. It has begun reducing weight in secondary packaging by eliminating cardboard sidewalls on corrugated trays. These and other measures reduced the materials CCE used in 2008 by approximately 31,000 metric tons. (Source: http://crs.cokecce.com/)
Increasing recycled materials - to reduce impact
CCE is looking at ways that it can increase the amount of recycled aluminium, steel, glass and plastic in packaging.
Current amounts of recycled content in CCE’s products in Europe:
- 50% recycled content in aluminium cans
- 37% recycled content in glass bottles in Great Britain
- 50-70% recycled content in glass bottles in France, Belgium and Holland
CCE is helping to close the recycling loop by sourcing recycled PET from bottle to bottle recycling plants.
By sourcing recycled PET these plants will help provide the dependable and cost-effective stream of food-grade recycled PET (rPET) that it is needed. This work will allow CCE to close the recycling loop by purchasing recycled material locally and incorporating it into new bottles.
Recycled aluminium accounts for more than half of the content of cans, while glass bottles contain up to 45 percent recycled content. CCE is addressing the issues of quality, cost and reliability that have made it difficult to use larger amounts of rPET particularly in GB, and is working to increase the amount of post-consumer recycled material in its packaging.
Recycle on-the-go
One way CCE is trying to increase the amount of post-consumer recycled material it can use is by introducing ‘Recycle Zones’ throughout Great Britain. These Recycle Zones help make it easier for consumers to recycle their drinks packaging on-the-go in places like theme parks, hospitals and shopping centres. CCE goal is to create 80 Recycle Zones in high-traffic areas by 2011, and it is developing similar programs in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. (Source: http://crs.cokecce.com/)
The Coca-Cola Company – PlantBottle – a look to the future?
The Coca-Cola system has also recently unveiled a new packaging innovation – a plastic bottle that is made partially from plants. The "PlantBottle™" is fully recyclable, requires less petroleum, a non-renewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions. The "PlantBottle™" has been piloted with DASANI and sparkling brands in North America. (Source: The Coca-Cola Company)
The "PlantBottle™" is currently made through an innovative process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic. Coca-Cola is also exploring the use of other plant materials for future generations of the "PlantBottle™."
How the PlantBottle PET is manufactured
(Source: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com)
Manufacturing the new plastic bottle is more environmentally efficient. A life-cycle analysis conducted by Imperial College London indicates the "PlantBottle™" with 30 percent plant-base material reduces carbon emissions by up to 25 percent, compared with petroleum-based PET.
Another advantage to the "PlantBottle™" is that, unlike other plant-based plastics, it can be processed through existing manufacturing and recycling facilities without contaminating traditional PET. Therefore, the material in the "PlantBottle™" can be used, recycled and reused repeatedly.
The “PlantBottle™” bottle feels like traditional PET plastic, it is the same weight as traditional PET plastic, and it is recyclable just like traditional PET plastic - because it is PET plastic. As the bottle is so similar in appearance to standard CCE bottles, it will be identifiable through on-pack messages and in-store point of sale displays. Web-based communications will also highlight the bottles’ environmental benefits.
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The goal is to produce up to two billion Plant
Bottle’s by the end of 2010 - The Coca-Cola
Company |
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Key features of the "PlantBottle™"
- Made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30 % plant-based materials
- Made through an innovative process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production into a key component for PET
- Same level of performance as PET
- 100% compatible with existing PET recycling streams (and more environmentally efficient than composting)
- Does not contaminate the existing recycling stream
- Does not compete with food products or scarce land for food
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