The first announcement was made in November - now Coca Cola is increasingly going public and explaining why the lids will remain on the disposable PET bottles in future. The company is starting early to implement an EU regulation.
Coca-Cola is implementing an EU requirement that plastic caps on non-returnable bottles must remain on the bottle after opening by 3 July 2024. The beverage company in Germany is already starting to gradually switch to new closures for all non-returnable PET bottles.
The changeover takes Coca-Cola the occasion to to optimise the overall material usage of the bottles. In Germany, the new closures are expected to save up to 1.37 grams of plastic per bottle.
Changeover takes place gradually
The company is starting the changeover to the new closures early in order to ensure that the EU requirement is implemented in Germany by July 2024. The starting point was the bottling plant in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, in November 2021, The disposable PET lines at the sites in Mannheim, Mönchengladbach, Hildesheim and Knetzgau will now follow. By January 2024, all German plants with one-way PET lines will gradually switch their production to bottles with the new closures.
Due to the long-term changeover phase, disposable PET bottles with both the previous type of closure and the new closures will be available on the market for some time. In order to to make consumers aware of the new closures, the lids are labelled with the words „Leave it to me!’.
The previous opening mechanism will not change. However, the new closures will remain connected to a part of the safety ring on the bottle neck. The lid can be opened and closed easily and moved back and forth for convenient consumption. It can also be fixed in one position for easy pouring.
Return to the recycling loop
The non-returnable PET bottles with the new closures can be As before, including lids via reverse vending machines throughout Germany. Thanks to the deposit system, the valuable material can be collected and recycled. In Germany, over 90 per cent of bottle caps are already collected in this way.
„As the largest beverage manufacturer in the world Coca-Cola is aware of its responsibility and is using its leverage for sustainable change. We have taken the EU regulation as an opportunity to optimise our closures overall and develop a new, material-saving solution. We are constantly working on our packaging and looking for new ways to save material and make it even more environmentally friendly in line with our sustainability goals.“ Tilmann Rothammer, Managing Director Customer Service & Supply Chain, Coca-Cola European Partners Germany.
Source: Coca-Cola European Partners Germany