Coca-Cola to build U.S. recycling plant

The Coca-Cola Company will invest more than US$60 million to build the worlds largest plastic-bottle-to-bottle recycling plant and support recycling in the U.S.

The effort is part of a goal to recycle or reuse 100 per cent of the companys PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles in the U.S.

We have set an ambitious goal to recycle or reuse all the plastic bottles we use in the U.S. market, said Sandy Douglas, president of Atlanta, Ga.-based Coca-Cola North America. Our investments in recycling infrastructure, coupled with our work on sustainable package design, will help us reach this target.

Working with Spartanburg, S.C.-based PET recycler United Resource Recovery Corporation (URRC), Coca-Cola will build the worlds largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg. The plant will produce approximately 100 million pounds of food-grade recycled PET plastic for reuse each year the equivalent of producing nearly two billion 20-ounce Coca-Cola bottles.

The long-term sustainability of our business depends on our ability to ensure the sustainability of our packaging, Douglas said. This new recycling facility represents a significant milestone as we work to advance recycling in the U.S. and ensure a strong end-market for our PET packaging.

The new 30-acre Spartanburg plant is scheduled to open in 2008 and be fully operational in 2009. According to Coca-Cola, the Spartanburg recycling plant is expected to eliminate the production of one million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 10 years the equivalent of removing 21,500 cars from the road.