Coca-Cola European Partners has announced it will end the use of plastic shrink-wrap across all canned multipacks sold in Great Britain.
With plans to replace the packaging with a cardboard alternative, the move will effect more than 30 million packs sold to consumers each year, including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Lilt.
The packs will transition to cardboard over the next 18 months and is 100% recyclable and sustainably sourced. Multipacks of ten cans or more are already wrapped in cardboard.
Leendert den Hollander, vice president and general manage for Coca-Cola European Partners GB, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to recycle our packaging after they’ve enjoyed our drinks. All our cans are 100% recyclable but we know it is a challenge for consumers to recycle the plastic we use for our multipacks.
“By replacing shrink-wrap with cardboard, which is collected by virtually every household system in the country, we are eliminating a hard-to-recycle material from our supply chain. Changing all our canning lines over the next 18 months is a complex project. But we believe it is the right thing to do and we would encourage others in the sector to follow our lead.”
The switch to cardboard is the latest change from Coca-Cola as part of its sustainable packaging strategy, launched in 2017, in which it set out its ambition to ensure all of its packaging is recovered for recycling.
