Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced the introduction of CanCollar, an innovative paperboard packaging solution, for multipack cans in Spain.
The move supports its work, in partnership with Coca-Cola, to remove all ‘unnecessary or hard to recycle plastic’ from its portfolio, avoiding the use of more than 11,000 tonnes of virgin plastic a year across Western Europe.
Initially, Coca-Cola European Partners will launch the new, PEFC certified recyclable and sustainably sourced paperboard CanCollar in the Balearic Islands in November 2020, a first in Europe, CCEP says.
By the end of 2020, we will have removed more than 4,000 tonnes of hard to recycle plastic from our secondary packaging in Western Europe
Innovative packaging design is a core principle of Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste strategy and through collaboration with WestRock, a global company that provides its customers with sustainable differentiated packaging solutions, Coca-Cola European Partners will start to use the CanCollar paperboard can ring technology in the Balearic Islands, replacing the current Hi-cone solution and saving more than 18 tonnes of plastic annually.
Coca-Cola European Partners has invested 2.6 million euros in its Barcelona plant to support this initiative. The installation of WestRock’s CanCollar Fortuna manufacturing equipment will enable multipack cans to be grouped in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way, with a process that does not require the use of glue or adhesives.
Joe Franses, Vice President of Sustainability, Coca-Cola European Partners said: “ The agreement with WestRock exemplifies our clear commitment to reduce plastic in our secondary packaging.
“By the end of 2020, we will have removed more than 4,000 tonnes of hard to recycle plastic from our secondary packaging in Western Europe. It’s through collaborating on innovative packaging solutions like CanCollar that we are able to do this.”
Dwayne Irvin, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at WestRock said, “We are proud of our longstanding partnership with Coca-Cola.
“For 70 years we have supported Coca-Cola in bringing innovation to global beverage markets. CanCollar is the latest initiative supporting Coca-Cola’s vision to create a World Without Waste.”