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| Serving Sustainability |  | When you serve fountain beverages from The Coca-Cola Company, you’re greener than you think! Ounce for ounce, fountain beverages are among the greenest drinks on the planet. And, in an age of rising demands on natural resources, Coca-Cola sees new opportunities for business. The Company is responding by investing in and creating more sustainable products and services. Read on to learn more about our latest initiatives.
Syrup
Ounce for ounce, soda fountains are among the most efficient methods to deliver soft drinks to consumers. The concentration of fountain syrup reduces environmental impact from packaging and distribution while delivering a consistent and enjoyable beverage experience. The Coca-Cola Company has now made a good thing even better with the introduction of High-Yield Concentrated Syrup (HYCS). HYCS decreases the environmental impact of BIB syrups while maintaining the same equipment, packaging, service and beverage quality of the finished product.
Here are a few facts: - The same-size box now yields more drinks:
- Coca-Cola® - 512 more finished ounces per 5-gallon BIB (+13.3%)
- Diet Coke® - 1,920 more finished ounces per 5-gallon BIB (+46.2%)
- Sprite® - 640 more finished ounces per 5-gallon BIB (+16.7%)
- More drinks served per box equates to fewer boxes end up in your dumpster and local waste stream
- Less water to ship means fewer truckloads are needed (less fuel consumption/CO2 emissions)
- The Coca-Cola High-Yield Concentrate Syrup Bag-In-A-Box contains more than 1/3 recycled content, substantially reducing the amount of raw materials used
Packaging
In surveys and market research, consumers expressed a strong buying preference for packaging that has an improved environmental story. In fact, in a survey of more than 26,000 consumers worldwide, Nielsen researchers found that 90% of “eco-aware” consumers are willing to give up traditional packaging for greener options, and nearly half are willing to give up convenience packaging to reduce environmental impact (“Packaging and the Environment: A Global Nielsen Consumer Report,” March 2008). The Coca-Cola Company has developed several environmentally preferable cup options that allow foodservice operators to seize this opportunity and deliver incremental sales in the high-margin beverage category.
- The Coca-Cola Company sells over 3 million environmentally preferable cups per year to its foodservice customers
- There has been an 8% increase in the sales of green cups between 2009 and YTD 2010
EnviroMax
Not only does the innovative design of the EnviroMax cup deliver functional benefits to foodservice operators and consumers, it also is made from 50% recycled PET – the same plastic used in soda bottles. Just think, your fountain cup may have been a Coke® bottle in a previous life.
Ecotainer
The Coca-Cola Company partnered with International Paper to launch the first PLA-coated compostable paper cold cup, the Ecotainer. Compostable cups deliver comparable performance to traditional paper cups so consumers do not need to make compromises in the area of aesthetics or function. The biggest benefit comes at the end of the cup’s life. Because the vessel is completely compostable, it can be disposed with food waste in a commercial compost stream, increasing participation in composting programs. In fact, a survey of U.S. composters found that 72.5% of respondents indicate that accepting compostable packaging allows them to increase their overall rate of food waste tonnage (Sustainable Packaging Coalition, “Compostable Packaging: The Reality on the Ground,” June 2010).
Distribution
The Coca-Cola Company’s unique foodservice distribution model maximizes efficiency by leveraging Coca-Cola bottling companies and third-party distributors to reduce transportation miles. Because broad-line foodservice distributors already make deliveries to restaurants, the inclusion of Coca-Cola products on their trucks eliminate the necessity for a delivery of soft drinks only – providing operational efficiencies to restaurants and reducing road-miles. If, on the other hand, a foodservice operator already orders bottles and cans from a Coca-Cola bottler, they may opt to receive fountain syrup on this delivery.
Partnerships / International Coastal Clean-up
Founded in 1986, The Ocean Conservancy is a non-profit, environmental advocacy organization that promotes healthy ocean ecosystems and opposes practices that threaten ocean life. Each year, the organization hosts the world's largest single-day volunteer effort to eradicate litter and debris from the world's beaches, inland waterways and oceans – The International Coastal Clean-up. In addition to debris removal, the clean-up includes a data collection effort during which volunteers record the specific types of debris recovered, providing insight into marine pollution. The data is compiled, analyzed and published the following spring.
The Coca-Cola Company has supported global clean-up efforts for 15 years. In 2008, Coca-Cola launched a multi-year partnership with The Ocean Conservancy through a $1 million pledge to support the International Coastal Clean-up.
Last year alone, nearly 42,000 Coca-Cola system associates, their friends and families in 32 markets around the world participated, contributing nearly 265,000 hours of volunteer time. And, the entire clean-up effort resulted in almost 500,000 volunteers in 108 countries collecting more than 7.4 million pounds of trash.
Company
The Coca-Cola Company believes that communities and our business can only flourish in a healthy ecosystem. With this in mind, we have committed to improving our environmental footprint in the areas of packaging, energy/climate and water.
Packaging
We envision a world in which packaging is no longer seen as waste, but as a valuable resource for future use. The Coca-Cola Company is working hard to make this vision a reality by reducing the packaging we distribute, recovering packaging that is sent into the market, and closing the loop through creative reuse and recycling programs. To learn more about Coca-Cola’s packaging initiatives, please visit http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/packaging.html.
Energy/Climate
Ninety percent of U.S. consumers are concerned about global warming/climate change. The Coca-Cola Company shares this concern. Our goal is to grow the business, not the carbon in our manufacturing operations. We also want to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the GHG emissions from cold drink equipment. To learn more about Coca-Cola’s climate and energy initiatives, please visit http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/citizenship/energy_climate_ protection.html.
Water
Water is fundamental to The Coca-Cola Company’s business. Beverages are our business; water is the main ingredient in all the products we make. It also is essential to the agricultural ingredients, such as sugar and citrus fruits, that we rely on to produce our products.
Water also is vital to the health of the communities we serve and the ecosystems we all rely on. For these reasons, water is a priority for Coca-Cola. In June 2007, we announced our goal to safely return -- to communities and nature -- an amount of water equivalent to what we use in our beverages and their production. To learn more about Coca-Cola’s climate and energy initiatives, please visit http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/water_main.html. | | | | | | |
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