You are here: interpack Magazine. Packaging sustainably.

Coca-Cola: Produced and packaged upon a regional basis worldwide

Articles

Coca-Cola: Produced and packaged upon a regional basis worldwide

View large image in photo gallery

Hardly a beverage group is as well-known throughout the entire world as Coca-Cola. The basis for this brand recognition is formed by a decentralised system by means of which the global company can be active in the local markets very successfully.

In 2011, Coca-Cola will turn 125 years old. There aren’t a lot of brands that have accomplished this and certainly sustainable, responsible action forms the basis for such success. In Coca-Cola’s case, the sustainability concept will play a central role for tomorrow, but obviously this didn’t just begin yesterday.

Coca-Cola from the USA tastes just like Coca-Cola from Italy or France - but nonetheless the international cult beverage also tastes like it’s from home: Coca-Cola is not centrally produced and then transported around the entire world, but rather produced, packaged, and distributed worldwide in one’s own respective country for the domestic market.

Regionality principle

For a very long time, it has been among the company’s principles to always produce the products regionally, i.e. even though it’s a global company, business is locally managed in each of the approx. 200 countries. This regionality principle creates many advantages: Short routes for production and distribution save energy and reduce CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the close cooperation with regional raw materials dealers and local production partners strengthens the financial power in the respective region. Based upon company data, even the ingredients for the beverages are largely from the surrounding areas insofar as this is possible. Thus, Coca-Cola procures the required water either from its own wells or from local municipal suppliers and it is processed - upon a standardised basis worldwide – according to strict criteria. Even the sugar is obtained primarily from sugar beets which are grown in domestic fields.

Sustainable packaging concept

An important factor in the production process is the packaging. Environmental-friendliness and sustainability are a prevailing theme everywhere in the area of product packaging. At Coca-Cola, above all bottles, cases and boxes are used. The plastic reusable bottles are filled 15 times on average just like the glass bottles and are completely recyclable. In the area of disposable packaging, much progress in reducing weight has been attained in recent years: The weight of the 0.33-litre beverage cans has been able to be reduced from approx. 80 grams in the 1960s to 23 grams today. For example, the weight of the PET disposable bottles in 2009 was able to be reduced by approx. 1.5 to 2.5 grams per bottle by changing the body of the bottle and its neck. According to Coca-Cola’s data, merely by so doing, 1,000 tons of PET per year can be saved which is supposed to correspond to the CO2 equivalent of approx. 3,300 tons. In addition, through improvements in materials and technology - such as, for example, through thinner foils and more economical wrapping of transport pallets - between 10 and 15 percent of packaging foil per pallet was saved.

Even with regards to its packaging concept, Coca-Cola relies upon regional production to the extent that this is possible: Reusable boxes and labels are often provided by suppliers in the nearby areas and the company itself produces PET disposable bottles from pre-forms at many locations in order to avoid any unnecessarily long transport.

In order to be able to make the bottles even more environmentally friendly in the future, the percentage of recycling materials is supposed to increase even more in the future. Currently, by company accounts, the PET disposable bottles for refreshment beverages contain approx. 23 percent recycling materials. The goal is to increase this value to 50 percent because the CO2 emissions for recycled PET are more than two-thirds smaller than for new materials. Even beverage cases, paper and paperboard for Coca-Cola beverages contain high levels of recycling components. The reusable cases for the classical refreshment beverages were already produced with up to 100% recycling materials in 2009.

Global Compact

In order to document its commitment to exemplary action in the market, “The Coca-Cola Company” signed the UNO’s Global Compact. It defines the company’s norms worldwide. Furthermore, the company still has its own workplace guidelines that are valid worldwide. In accordance with its own workplace guidelines, the company is obliged to adhere to the same minimum standards in the workplace in all countries of the world where it does business.

By so doing, Coca-Cola is becoming an important economic factor internationally. Worldwide, countless direct and indirect jobs are affected at each production stage - from the procurement of the sugar to water processing to the filling and recycling factories.