Avery Dennison drives Coca-Cola recycling efforts in the UK

More than 50 million bottles of Smartwater were produced in 2015. The PET liners used to carry the self-adhesive labels before dispensing generated more than 40 tonnes of waste in that year, costing around 8,500 GBP (10,600 USD) in disposal/handling costs.

Avery Dennison expanded its PET liner recycling program in 2014, as reported here, with the addition of a new collection facility for brand owners in the UK and Ireland, with waste PET liners sold directly to PET UK, then PET Processors UK, in Dumfries, Scotland.

Under the new recycling scheme, PET UK shreds and extrudes the waste PET liner and then produces a material suitable for making new items such as PET staple fiber, strapping or thermoformable sheets.

Xander van der Vlies, sustainability director for Avery Dennison Materials Group Europe, said that CCEP wanted to further improve Smartwater production in line with its focus on recycling, sustainability and creating a circular economy. ‘Avery Dennison was a natural choice of partner for this project, given our ambitious year-on-year sustainability goals, and the various initiatives we promote around the reduction of waste created in the self-adhesive label value chain.’

There will also be significant savings in carbon dioxide emissions of around 180-200 tonnes in 2016 thanks to the project.

Joe Franses, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability at CCEP, said: ‘This example shows how we can turn the crisis of resources into a business opportunity through close collaboration across the value chain. Businesses which can be truly innovative with the products and services they provide, optimising the resources they use and encouraging consumers to do the same, have the potential to transform our economy.’

As well as PET UK, Avery Dennison has worked with Viridor, CCEP’s waste management company, ‘and together we have been able to establish a strategy that saves on waste and emissions while at the same time giving CCEP concrete business benefits and cost reductions,’ concluded van der Vlies.

‘Since we launched this initiative with PET UK in 2014, we have signed up many wine, spirits, beer and beverage brands. Avery Dennison has set an ambitious sustainability goal for 2025 of eliminating 70 percent of liner waste from the industry value chain.’