FDBusiness.com

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has underlined its continued commitment to youth development with the opening of a brand new Education Centre at Continuum Recycling, the joint venture with ECO Plastics which created the world’s largest plastics bottle reprocessing facility located in Hemswell, Lincolnshire. The new centre is the fifth of its kind in Great Britain, with similar facilities at other CCE sites including Sidcup, Wakefield, Edmonton and East Kilbride in Scotland.

As part of CCE’s national education programme, the latest investment will support the company’s drive to introduce young people to the world of business, enterprise and engineering. The new centre aims to host over 200 visits per year, reaching over 4,000 students from local secondary schools, colleges and universities.

Visitors to the Education Centre receive subject related insight into the recycling production process alongside a guided tour of the factory floor. Each centre is run by a General Teaching Council (GTC) registered teacher, employed full-time by CCE, and supports learning on a variety of subjects, including Business Studies, Science, ICT, Engineering, Design & Technology.

Students from the CordeauxSchoolin Louth were the first to attend the new centre and experience its benefits first hand, taking part in an interactive classroom session and factory tour.

Simon Baldry, managing director of Coca-Cola Enterprises, comments: “We are committed to playing a positive role in the communities in which we operate, and one of the best ways to achieve this is by opening up our sites to support the work of educators. Our Education Centres offer students valuable insight into the world of business, allowing them to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and real-life modern manufacturing practices. Modules taught at Continuum Recycling, as at all of our education centres, link directly to the national curriculum. We look forward to welcoming secondary and further education students to this state-of-the-art facility to experience the site and learn more about the recycling production process.”