Coca-Cola rolls out attached caps and new lighter weight bottles

Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) has announced the transition to attached caps to its plastic bottles, making it easier to recycle and ensure no cap gets left behind.

The move, begins in Scotland this month and will be rolled out across Britain, will cover entire portfolio of brands including Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Lilt.

From today (17 May), consumers will start to see new caps attached to 1.5L bottles of Fanta, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke, with the switch set to be completed for all plastic bottles across CCGB’s range of brands by early 2024.

“This is a small change that we hope will have a big impact, ensuring that when consumers recycle our bottles, no cap gets left behind,” Jon Woods, general manager at CCGB, said.

“It’s one of many steps we’re taking towards our global commitment to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one that we sell by 2025, on our journey towards a World Without Waste.”

Commenting, Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill said: “More businesses are finding innovative ways to tackle harmful plastic pollution and Coca‑Cola’s new design will make it easier for people to recycle and help reduce litter.

“The government is committed to boosting recycling across the country with our new Environment Act creating a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, making manufacturers more responsible for their packaging, and putting in place consistent recycling collections.”

All of Coca‑Cola’s bottles, including the caps, have been 100% recyclable for many years but not all are being recycled, as bottle caps are often discarded and littered. The new design means that the cap stays connected to the bottle after opening, reducing the potential for it to be littered.

Coca‑Cola said it is the first major soft drinks company to announce the switch across its entire range in Britain.

Last year the company announced that it had reached its target of using 100% recycled plastic – excluding caps and labels – in all its 500ml or smaller bottles sold in Britain ahead of schedule, helping to save around 29,000 tonnes of plastic per year.

Meanwhile, the Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has announced the roll out of new lighter weight bottles across all of its European markets.

The bottler, who has reduced the weight of its 500ml PET bottles by 30 per cent, from 28.9g to 19.9g, will remove a further 1g of plastic per bottle with the new lighter weight neck design, totalling 6,800 tonnes of plastic by the end of 2024.

“This new lighter-weight neck design – a seemingly simple, but highly technical and complex innovation – builds on our longstanding lightweighting programme and helps us further reduce the environmental impact of our packaging. This innovation supports our ongoing progress to zero waste and net zero GHG emissions,” commented Geert Marsé, associate director for engineering, new technology and innovation at CCEP.

The new solution was developed in collaboration with the Coca-Cola Company, working closely with multiple bottle and closure suppliers to design and test the innovation. CCEP said it has tested over six million bottles under rigorous conditions and each bottle can still withstand the 11.5 bars of pressure – 5 times that of a car tyre – required to contain the carbonated drink.

Production lines in Germany were the first to convert in the final quarter of 2021 and are being followed by other European markets over the next two years.

The company added that it will share the new neck design to other firms.

“Our aim is for this design to be accepted as a free to use, open source, industry standard published through the industry association Cetie (International Technical Centre for Bottling). It will then be available for any beverage maker to use in their own bottles. By doing this, we hope to enable others to drive further packaging and carbon reduction across the industry over the long term,” it said in a statement.