Petainer Aids Coca-Cola's Shift to 100% rPET Bottles in Sweden and Norway

Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta are among the brands that has transitioned to bottles made from 100% recycled plastic in Sweden and Norway. The move has eliminated the use of more than 6,000 tonnes of new, virgin oil-based plastic, resulting in a 44% reduction in the carbon footprint of plastic bottles a year. The complete changeover occurred during the first quarter of 2021 and concerns all large 1500ml bottles produced in Jordbro, Sweden and Robsrud, Norway.

Coca-Cola in Sweden & Norway want to help contribute to the transition towards a circular economy where all packaging is collected, then reused or recycled. Increasing the proportion of recycled material in PET bottles is an effective way of reducing its carbon footprint. Sweden and Norway are at the forefront in several areas of packaging and sustainability. Markets such as Norway & Sweden have high collection rates for plastic bottles, the Deposit Return Systems available in these countries is a key part of enabling the switch to 100% rPET.

Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta are among the brands that has transitioned to bottles made from 100% recycled plastic in Sweden and Norway.

Partnerships with key stakeholders across the supply chain helped to make the project a success. Returpack, Sweden and Infinitum, Norway operate world-class collection models, boosting collection rates and increasing the quality of PET material collected by reducing contamination from other materials. Local production of food grade rPET by Veolia enables a strong supply of high-quality recycled material from an established bottle-2-bottle recycling system.  

The preforms for Coca-Cola's soft drink bottles are produced at the Petainer Lidkoping plant in Sweden. The PET bottles use Petainer's lightweight 1500ml preform design and incorporate 100% rPET flakes and pellets. Using its processing and quality expertise, Petainer has increased the rPET content from 50% to 100% whilst maintaining maximum performance, strength and appearance.

Petainer provide onsite technical support to Jordbro and Robsrud bottling sites to seamlessly introduce 100% PET preforms with a good blowing process established. Lightweight savings of 160 tonnes per annum were achieved, further enhancing the product’s carbon footprint by reducing C02 emissions from road transport, energy and compressed air usage during the manufacturing process.

In addition to the use of more sustainable materials and operational improvements, the preform is manufactured at Petainer's site based in Lidkoping, Sweden, which is powered entirely by hydroelectric power, a 100% renewable energy source. Lidkoping has also been awarded Platinum Rating by EcoVadis in 2021, the global CSR ratings agency. This assessment places Petainer Lidkoping in the top one percent of suppliers in the Manufacture of Plastics Products category and in the top one percent of all the organisations EcoVadis evaluates, with a particularly strong performance in the environmental category.

With expert partners like Petainer, Coca-Cola can position itself as a leading sustainability performer in the Scandanavian beverage market.