FDBusiness.com

PET packaging company APPE has established a joint venture with Coca-Cola in France, expanding its PET recycling facility in Beaune

The two companies are investing around €9m in the project which includes the installation of a new SSP tower at Beaune, supplied by Bühler.

The site’s capacity is expected to rise from 28,000 tonnes of food-grade PET, known as SuperCycle, to 48,000 tonnes, an increase of 70%.

APPE added that an additional 390m PET bottles will be recycled each year.

“We are delighted to be working with our long-term partner Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) in such an exciting and ground-breaking initiative,” said APPE general manager, Martin Hargreaves. “We have always emphasised the importance of both end-market support and long-term investment to fully realise the potential of PET recycling.

“It is hugely encouraging that CCE has the same vision and commitment and is keen to play such a pivotal role in helping to assure the successful long-term future of rPET.”

Improving recycling rates’

CCE will invest €6.5m in the new joint venture.

“Our goal to lead our industry in sustainable packaging and recycling means we must support and promote improvements throughout our value chain,” said John F. Brock, chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola Enterprises.

Brock added: “These initiatives aim to address two of our biggest challenges in this area – improving recycling rates by influencing consumer behaviour at home and meeting the increasing demand for recycled PET through investments in strategic infrastructure projects.”

In a statement, Coca-Cola Enterprises said that recycling rates in Great Britain and France remain below most other European countries, despite growing awareness of environmental concerns among consumers.

Only approximately half of plastic bottles are collected for recycling in these countries. As a result, manufacturers face restrictions in the supply of locally available recycled PET.

Consumer behaviour

Coca-Cola also announced that it would be investing in a research programme that will seek to define interventions which will study consumer recycling behaviours. It will be delivered in partnership with the University of Exeter and will be based upon in-depth, ethnographic research with households in Great Britain and France over a ten-month period.

Dr Stewart Barr, associate professor of geography at the University of Exeter, said:  “Our approach will be to work intensively with households to understand how recycling and waste behaviours have developed and how the dynamics within family units influence such everyday practices.

“In this way, we will work alongside households to co-create strategies to embed sustainable recycling patterns in the future.

“This project will provide valuable knowledge for a wide range of businesses seeking to influence environmental behaviours, as well as government and NGOs.”