All clear bottles collected at the Olympic venues will be sent for recycling at Continuum Recycling, Coca-Cola Enterprises new joint venture recycling facility with ECO Plastics. Based in North Lincolnshire, Continuum Recycling will open in early 2012 more than doubling the current production of food grade recycled PET plastic in the UK from 35,000 tonnes in 2010 to more than 75,000 tonnes (see letsrecycle.com story) .
The bottles will be used to produce 80 million new Coke bottles within six weeks of the Closing Ceremony. Coloured PET from the Olympics will not be sent to the facility as it is not suitable for making new clear Coke bottles.
While Coca Cola, which is a partner of the Olympic Games, has not put a figure on how many bottles it expects to recycle, it estimates that this will translate into one fifth of the total consumer waste produced at Olympic venues. This will help the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to achieve its target of sending zero waste to landfill with at least 70% of all waste being reused, recycled or composted. The companies will be targeting both Coca Cola and non-Coca Cola branded products.
Sustainability
Jon Woods, country manager for Coca Cola Great Britain & Ireland, said: London 2012 provides a spectacular opportunity for everyone in the UK to raise the bar on sustainability. Coca-Cola is the longest continuous sponsor of the Olympic Movement. We know from experience that our sponsorship can inspire our own business to take a leap forward in sustainability, and were committed to building on what weve learnt to help LOGOG make London 2012 the most sustainable Games of modern times.
When the eyes of four billion people are turned on London next year, we will use the appeal of our brands along with our scale and reach to showcase our cutting edge sustainability programmes, and inspire our consumers, partners and suppliers to live more sustainable lifestyles.
SITA UK was named as the winner of the prestigious contract to handle waste and recycling at the 2012 London Olympic Games in March 2011 (see letlsrecycle.com story). Full details of the service it will be providing are yet to be released.
Register for free to comment