Inaugurated the new Coca-Cola Hbc plant in Piedmont
Dedicated to the production of recycled plastic (rPET) bottles
The Coca-Cola HBC Group, which with Coca-Cola HBC Italy is the main bottler of The Coca-Cola Company branded products in the country, officially inaugurated the Gaglianico plant for the production of recycled PET (rPET) bottles, in Piedmont. With an investment of more than 30 million euros, the Coca-Cola HBC Group's biggest investment, which adds to the more than 100 million euros in sustainability invested in the country only in the past 10 years, the plant -which had been disused for 8 years- was recovered and converted into an innovative hub able to convert up to 30,000 tons of PET per year into new 100% recycled PET preforms for the company's soft drinks bottling.
“We want to keep investing and doing our part both to move toward a real circular economy in Italy and to contribute to the development of innovative projects in a region to which we are particularly close, despite the difficulties in our sector related to the rising cost of raw materials and energy.” - says Frank O’Donnell, General Manager of Coca-Cola HBC Italia - “This renovated plant proves that giving companies the opportunity to do business and investment allows them to innovate and be more sustainable, as opposed to taxation that instead blocks any possibility of development."
The site, which will employ 41 employees, covers a total area of 18,000 square meters powered by 100% electricity from renewable sources, performs 4,700 quality checks per day and has, among the first in Italy and in the world, some of the most advanced technologies to date.
The PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is one of the plastics for food packaging that is 100% recyclable several times and does not lose its basic properties during the recycling process, reducing the need to produce additional virgin plastic material. In addition, according to a study commissioned by the company to IFEU (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research) and validated by Eco3, referring to the 0.66L format, the use of recycled PET also has positive implications in terms of CO2 emissions. Specifically, the lower energy demand of the technology installed in Gaglianico, together with the use of 100% electricity from renewable sources, lead to a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions in the production of the rPET preform, compared to the production in other plant of the same virgin PET preform.
EFA News - European Food Agency