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Coke Tries to Do More with Less
October 4, 2008 By: Esther Durkalski HertzfeldJust using less doesn’t make a company sustainable, says Scott Vitters, director of Sustainable Packaging, The Coca-Cola Co. “That will save you money but doesn’t meet sustainability goals,” he states.
Vitters discussed the world’s largest beverage company’s approach to driving growth through sustainable business practices during the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) Annual Meeting last month in Atlanta. Coca-Cola offers 2,600 beverage products worldwide, has 300 independent bottling partners, and has 900 manufacturing facilities.
Since each beverage is typically bottled locally, the packaging is marketed and changed accordingly. For example, in poorer markets, refillable bottles are returned to Coke since there typically is no infrastructure for waste management. Those bottles then can be used again, in some way, for Coke products in that area.
Coke was the first company to ever conduct a life cycle analysis in the food and beverage arena back in 1968. So the company’s sustainability plan has been in place for a long while.
It looks at several factors influencing sustainability. The outcomes vary by region. These factors are:
•Effectiveness (protection of product quality);
•Efficiency (reducing material and using less energy); and
•Closed loop cycles (returning raw materials and energy value).
“Basically, we’re trying to do more with less” Vitters says.
Coke’s offerings, in terms of being the most sustainable, are the fountain drinks (which is syrup in a bag that is then put in a corrugated box), plastic bottles, and aluminum cans. This is followed by glass, which Vitters says is very difficult to recycle.OBM
