Coca-Cola System to Recycle all Clear Plastic Waste at London 2012 as Part of Pledge to Help Deliver World’s Most Sustainable Games

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Coca-Cola System in Great Britain ('Coca-Cola') has unveiled bold plans to recycle all colourless Coke and non-Coke branded PET plastic disposed of at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This pledge forms one part of Coca-Cola's approach to achieving its most sustainable sponsorship activation to date.

Coca-Cola is working in association with SITA UK, LOCOG's Waste Management partner, to recycle all clear PET plastic waste from the Olympic Park, using it within 80 million new Coke bottles that will be produced within six weeks of the Closing Ceremony.  Estimates suggest that this will translate to one fifth of the consumer waste produced at London 2012 venues, taking LOCOG a considerable way towards delivering its target of sending zero waste to landfill with at least 70% of all waste being reused, recycled or composted.

Colourless PET plastic waste will be recycled 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.

To ensure the 2012 Games is a low carbon event, Coca-Cola is cutting the carbon footprint of its distribution by a third. Coca-Cola Enterprises has invested in a state of the art Voltaic Warehouse from which products will be supplied to London venues.  Only HFC-free coolers with LED lighting and doors will be used in Olympic and Paralympic sites.

In addition, 14 biogas trucks will be introduced to deliver products that will continue to be used for deliveries in the London area after the Games. Coca-Cola's extensive sustainability roadmap for London 2012 sets out stretching commitments across waste, climate change, and health & wellness, which have been designed to leave a legacy of improved sustainable living in the UK for consumers, suppliers, and Coca-Cola itself as a business.

Other key commitments made by the Coca-Cola System include:

• At all London 2012 venues, packaged Coca-Cola products will be served in 100% recyclable plastic bottles which will contain up to 25% recycled content (rPET)

• Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero drinks will be served in PlantBottle packaging containing up to 22.5% plant based material as well as 25% rPET

• Coca-Cola will work with LOCOG and WRAP to trial a new, simple waste system that it hopes will become a blueprint for major sporting events in the future

• Coca-Cola has placed 260 recycling bins in locations around the centre of London. On Oxford Street alone, these bins are collecting over a tonne of recyclable material every day.

Coca-Cola is working in association with WWF at every stage of it journey to London 2012 and has incorporated their environmental recommendations into its sustainability strategy.

Jon Woods, Country Manager, 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 we're committed to building on what we've 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."

Alongside initiatives that will deliver positive benefits for the environment, Coca-Cola will continue to use its involvement with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire people to take up sport and develop more active, healthy and sustainable lifestyles.   Coca-Cola has entered into a three-year partnership with national charity StreetGames that will bring sport to 110,000 young people throughout the country, particularly in deprived areas.

Encouraging a leap forward in sustainable behaviour also extends to providing choice and enabling people to make healthy decisions.  At the 1948 Olympic Games Coca-Cola offered only Coca-Cola. At London 2012, it will offer the widest range of drinks ever offered at an Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Coca-Cola anticipates that 75% of the volume of drinks it will sell at London 2012 will be low or no-calorie products, water, juice or smoothies.

Simon Baldry, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Enterprises in GB, said:

"Coca-Cola is committed to supporting the delivery of a truly sustainable London 2012, and we are working in partnership with suppliers and organisations that are critical to delivering our plans.

"All our products for the Olympic Park and trade customers in the London area will be distributed from a new, more environmentally-friendly Voltaic warehouse in Dagenham. They will be picked up and delivered using 14 new biogas trucks, and chilled in HFC-free coolers complete with doors and LED lighting. We estimate that these investments will cut the carbon footprint of our distribution at the Games by a third.

"But the benefits will not end there. By incorporating them into our long-term supply chain we'll achieve environmental benefits well beyond the Games. Our investment in Continuum Recycling shows the scale of our ambition. Our vision is challenging, but we know it will make a positive difference - to individuals, communities and the planet."

Simon Lewis, 2012 spokesperson, WWF, said:

"It is exciting to see The Coca-Cola Company harnessing the power of London 2012 as a force for good - something that is in all of our interests. The strength of the Coca-Cola brand puts it in a unique position to trigger a significant shift in sustainable behaviour with the potential to leave a legacy of positive environmental change long after the Olympics have left town. I welcome this strategy for supporting the delivering of a sustainable Games. Coca-Cola, in association with WWF, will address the critical challenges involved, and help to set new industry standards that we hope will make a difference in London, across the UK, and around the world."

ENDS

For further information, please contact Blue Rubicon on behalf of Coca-Cola:

Katie Gosden or Sophie Barnard - 020 7260 2700 / coke@bluerubicon.com or

firstname.surname@bluerubicon.com

Notes to editors

About Coca-Cola and the Olympic Movement

The Coca-Cola Company has been continuously associated with the Olympic Games since 1928 - longer than any other corporate sponsor of the Olympic Movement. The Company works with National Olympic Committees in more than 200 countries to help athletes train and compete. More than 90 percent of Coca-Cola's investment in the Olympic Games is directed to athlete development and to assist in staging the Games. Products of The Coca-Cola Company refresh athletes, volunteers, officials and spectators during the Olympic Games. The Coca-Cola Company is the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage provider to the Olympic Games through 2020.

THE COCA-COLA SYSTEM IN GB:

PROMOTING SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

The Coca-Cola System in GB understands this opportunity very clearly. Coca-Cola Enterprises makes, sells and delivers The Coca-Cola Company's portfolio in Great Britain and the two organisations are working closely together to target new levels of sustainable achievement.

1. GIVING VISITORS A CHOICE

- At the 1948 Olympic Games, we offered only one drink in one size - Coca-Cola. At London 2012, we will offer the widest range of drinks we have ever offered at an Olympic and Paralympic Games. We anticipate that 75% of the drinks we sell at London 2012 (by volume) will be low or no-calorie products, water, juice or smoothies.

- Alongside classic Coca-Cola, we will be offering sugar-free variants Coke Zero and Diet Coke and our branding in venues will reflect this. Wherever we give away samples of Coca-Cola, we will ensure a sugar-free alternative is also on offer.

- We are proud to include Schweppes Abbey Well natural mineral water - from a single naturally protected source in Morpeth, Northumberland - as part of our product portfolio at the Games.

- All of our sparkling soft drinks, plus Powerade and Glaceau Vitaminwater, carry Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) information, enabling visitors to make informed choices about what they drink.

OUR LEGACY: We will continue to invest to grow our portfolio of low and no-calorie products.

2. CHAMPIONING STREETGAMES
- We have a long history of using the power of our brands to encourage people to become more active through physical activity. Through our sponsorship of London 2012, we have an even bigger opportunity to make a positive impact on people's health and wellbeing.

- We have entered into a three-year partnership with national charity StreetGames, allowing it to grow its network of projects to bring sport to 110,000 young people in the most deprived areas of the country.

Planned activity includes:

o Mass participation festivals and 300 local neighbourhood festivals.

o The first ever StreetGames Sport for Change Training Academy, which will prepare 100 tutors to deliver 11 new training courses to around 6,000 sports coaches.

o Connecting elite athletes with StreetGames projects in their local area. Athletes can also apply for a StreetGames bursary funded by the Coca-Cola Youth Foundation to set up and champion initiatives that will benefit the projects in their community.

o Giving 55 StreetGames participants who use their passion for sport to spread happiness in their local communities, the once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

OUR LEGACY: Our support of StreetGames will secure a genuine legacy of increased grassroots sport participation that will last long after London 2012 is over.

3. CELEBRATING FUTURE FLAMES

- We want to shine a light on the best of British youth by recognising, rewarding and inspiring the young people who use their passions in areas like sport and physical activity, music and dance, and the community and environment to help make Britain Burn Brighter.

- As a Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, we will help to highlight the best of British youth, rewarding those who have made a positive contribution to their local communities and the environment with a once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame.

- We will use the Coca-Cola Pavilion in the Olympic Park at Games time to continue to engage and celebrate these Future Flames.

- Every year, our three education centres around the country inspire 15,000 secondary school children to take an interest in manufacturing and engineering. In 2011 we introduced a fourth centre in Sidcup in time for the Games.

- Last year, 25,000 young people took part in our Real Business Challenge, our national enterprise education competition. This year, we have teamed up with LOCOG's Get Set network with a view to reaching 60,000 students with a London 2012 themed challenge.

- We have developed an Academy of Excellence programme which helps to support and develop business skills in young athletes. We have selected ten young Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls to take part in the scheme, which gives them essential business experience to stand them in good stead when their sporting careers are over.

OUR LEGACY: The Coca-Cola Future Flames nomination campaign has engaged tens of thousands of young people across the country, building pride in the best of British youth.

4. CUTTING CARBON

- As a global company, we are committed to growing our business without increasing our carbon footprint. Every Coca-Cola cooler installed in an Olympic or Paralympic venue will be HFC-free, energy-efficient and use LED lighting. After London 2012, these will be installed in customer premises across Europe.

- We have a dedicated warehouse from which products will be delivered to the London venues. Known as 'Voltaic', it includes many environmentally friendly features including solar PV cells and solar water heating, sky lights and motion-sensing lighting, a ground source heat pump, and a rainwater harvesting system.

- We have acquired 14 biogas trucks to deliver products to our customers in the London area during London 2012. They are powered by methane captured from a landfill site in Surrey. Each vehicle has a carbon footprint less than half that of a typical diesel truck. After the Games, these trucks will continue to be used to distribute our products, ensuring that this carbon reduction benefit lasts well beyond the Games.

- Between them, the Voltaic warehouse and our low carbon trucks mean that the carbon footprint of our distribution system for London 2012 has been cut by a third.

OUR LEGACY: Over their lifespan, our 14 biogas trucks will cut the carbon footprint of the Coca-Cola System by approximately 1,500 tonnes.

5. COMPENSATING FOR OUR FOOTPRINT

- We have comprehensively estimated the carbon footprint of every part of our London 2012 programme, including not only our own activities, but also those associated with our programme.

- We have taken this approach because we want to work in partnership up and down the supply chain to play our part in making this the greenest Games of modern times.

- We are taking substantial measures to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from our activities, and we are compensating for any unavoidable emissions by investing in Gold Standard carbon offset projects which establish a lasting positive social and environmental legacy.

- The methodology and compensation strategy has been informed by rigorous discussions with a Technical Advisory Group comprised of representatives from WWF, Defra, Sustainable Events Ltd, Oxford University and the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

OUR LEGACY: A new Publically Available Specification (PAS) for event carbon footprinting is being considered. By using the draft methodology, we are contributing a useful case study to this process.  We will share what we learn with others, in particular the Coca-Cola teams preparing for future events, such as the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

6. ZERO WASTE GAMES
- We are proactively supporting LOCOG to ensure London 2012 is a zero waste Games, with at least 70% of all clear plastic waste being reused, recycled or composted (the remainder will be incinerated to create energy).

- At all London 2012 venues, packaged Coca-Cola products will be served in 100% recyclable plastic bottles which will contain up to 25% recycled content (rPET).

- In addition, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero drinks will be served in PlantBottle packaging containing up to 22.5% plant based material.

- We will recycle all clear PET plastic disposed of in the Olympic Park, turning it back into new bottles. In 2011, our bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, announced a joint venture to develop the largest PET plastic recycling facility in Western Europe, called Continuum Recycling. Opening in the first half of 2012, this plant will more than double current production of food grade recycled PETplastic in the UK.

OUR LEGACY: We will turn every empty clear plastic bottle returned for recycling in a London 2012 venue back into a new bottle.

7. SUPPORTING CONSUMERS TO RECYCLE
- We will encourage visitors to London 2012 to recycle their empty packaging by using our brand presence to promote recycling.

- In addition, we are working with LOCOG and WRAP to design and test a clear waste system that is easy to understand and use. We hope it will become the blueprint for all major UK sporting events.

- As part of our commitment to help London stage a sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games, we placed 260 new recycling bins in locations around the centre of the capital. On Oxford Street alone, these bins are currently collecting over a tonne of recyclable material every day.

- We recycled 66,000 plastic bottles through our 'Swap for Swag' initiative at V Festival, Staffordshire, one of the 82 places we visited during the 2011 Coca-Cola Torch Tour.

OUR LEGACY: We are doubling our efforts to engage and inspire consumers to recycle, and are committed to playing our full part in increasing Britain's recycling rates.

8. EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY

- We are managing our entire London 2012 programme according to a British Standard for Sustainable Event Management, the BS 8901. The BS 8901 is a management system that event planners can use to ensure that every aspect of sustainability is considered. We are educating our suppliers about this standard and encouraging them to implement it. This standard is currently being adapted to create a new ISO standard (ISO 2012-1) which we will adopt in 2012.

- We have asked all our suppliers to create processes for minimising waste and maximising recycled content. Based on what we have learned at previous Games, we have devised a Sustainability Guide to help our suppliers, and clarify our expectations of them.

- Wherever possible, we will use recycled materials in our branded products, from staff uniforms to building materials and licensed merchandise. Indeed, the wraps, table tops and banners for the 2011 Coca-Cola Torch Tour (which visited festivals and towns across Britain in summer 2011) were made with rPET from over 110,000 used plastic bottles.

- As a Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, we have worked with LOCOG to establish a sustainability strategy which includes commitments to train all staff, reduce waste, reduce the carbon footprint of the relay and encourage spectators to recycle.

OUR LEGACY: Having embraced the BS-8901 to help us manage our sponsorship of London 2012 sustainably, we are now exploring how to use the standard to support all the events we deliver as a wider business.

9. WORKING WITH OTHERS

- We are working closely with the international NGO WWF at every stage of our journey to London 2012, and have incorporated their environmental recommendations into our sustainability strategy.

- We are supporting the sustainability charity Bioregional to create an 'experience' in the athletes' accommodation, the Olympic Village, which is designed to encourage this influential group to change their behaviour, particularly around recycling.

- The Coca-Cola Company is proud to have been an active supporter of Special Olympics Great Britain since 1978. Special Olympics helps people with a learning disability acquire the social and life skills that will help their inclusion in society, through participation in a year-round programme of sports training and competition.

- In January 2010, we began working with Homerton Hospital, the designated London 2012 hospital, to create a workplace health programme. The successful partnership - the first for an NHS Trust - supported staff wellbeing through advice on healthy eating and good lifestyle habits.

OUR LEGACY: We will continue to work in partnership with WWF.  Water is a key area which is fundamental to both WWF and The Coca-Cola Company.  Since 2007, we have combined out international strengths and resources to support water conservation throughout the world.

10. LEAVING A SOCIAL LEGACY

- Through London 2012, we are committed to demonstrating how brands like Coca-Cola can use the sponsorship of cultural and sporting events to deliver positive social impacts for people, for communities, and for the planet.

- Our experience at previous Olympic Games has taught us that brands like Coca-Cola have the potential to add real social value. At present, however, the non-commercial value of sponsorships is neither well understood nor easy to measure.

- Traditionally, the success of corporate sponsorships has been assessed through business metrics such as brand awareness. We think it's time for a new approach that looks beyond commercial benefits and explores the positive social legacy that sponsorship can leave. That's why we are working with leading thinktank Demos to create a new model, which shows that progressive sponsorship can be judged on social return on investment and the social value it creates, and which uses Coca-Cola's partnership with London 2012 as an example.

- We will pioneer a model that helps us and other companies - with whom we will share the new model - to re-think their event sponsorship campaigns and factor in activity that has a positive impact for wider society.