Coca-Cola PHL to break ground for P1-B recycling facility in 2nd half of 2019

Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. and its partners are targeting to break ground for its P1-billion food-grade recycling facility in the second half of 2019.

In a media roundtable in Parañaque City on Tuesday, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines president and CEO Gareth McGeown said the recycling plant will be launched and operational in 2020.

“We will break ground this year by Q3 or Q4,” McGeown said.

The plant will be built within a 100-kilometer radius outside of the Greater Manila Area due to the huge demand for bottled drinks in the capital region, Coca-Cola Philippines Inc. president and CEO Winn Everhart said during the same roundtable.

Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines is the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country while Coca-Cola Philippines is the local business unit of the US-based The Coca-Cola Co.

The plan is for a joint venture between Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines and two other partners—a reputable local company and an internationally-recognized green technology partner in recycling—to operate the new facility.

Everhart declined to identify the company’s partners, citing a non-disclosure agreement.

Of the P1-billion investment, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines will place a “significant amount,” but McGeown declined to confirm if the company is be the largest investor in the facility.

The plant will have a capacity of 16,000 metric tons of plastic bottles, convert these into “flakes,” which can be recycled into new plastic bottles or other purposes such as textiles or plastic chairs and benches.

The P1-billion facility is Coca-Cola’s first recycling plant in Southeast Asia.

Everhart said they chose the Philippines to other countries in the region since the company has been present here for 107 years and the Philippines is its first market in Southeast Asia.

Anchored on the circular economy concept, the recycling facility will collect, sort, clean and wash post-consumer PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles and turn them into new bottles using advanced technology.

The project is an integral part of “World Without Waste”–Coca-Cola’s global commitment to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030.

The company intends to use an average of 50% recycled content in its packaging including its PET bottles. —VDS, GMA News