Coca-Cola sets recycling goal at 100 percent

ATLANTA The Coca-Cola Co. has set a long-term goal of reusing or recycling 100 percent of the aluminum beverage cans it sells in the United States.

One out of every two aluminum cans is recycled today, the company stated. Recycling aluminum is efficient and requires 95 percent less energy than creating aluminum from raw materials. It also reduces carbon emissions by 95 percent. Coca-Cola said it uses an average 60 percent recycled aluminum in its beverage cans.

Coca-Cola already has set a goal to recycle or reuse 100 percent of its PET plastic bottles. In 2007, it spent $60 million in a series of recycling initiatives, including support of RecycleBank’s curbside collection program and the construction of the world’s largest PET bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, S.C.

In 2007, Coca Cola Enterprises created Coca Cola Recycling to recover and recycle the packaging materials developed and used by the Coca-Cola system.

“We established Coca-Cola Recycling to help increase recycling rates in North America and to ensure that our system has ready access to recycled material,” said John Burgess, president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola Recycling. “By the end of 2008, Coca-Cola Recycling will recycle more than 100 million pounds each of PET and aluminum.”