Coca‑Cola Launches First City Centre Recycle Zone In Southampton

A new project launched today between Coca‑Cola Great Britain and Southampton City Council as part of a strategic recycling initiative by the company will mean the installation of fifty new recycling bins in Southampton city centre.

The 'Recycle Zone' partnership will be launched today (Tuesday) and will make it easier for residents to recycle bottles and cans when they are out and about.

There are 15 stainless steel bins for recycling and 35 black ones that are dual - one side for recycling and the other for general litter.

Coca‑Cola has chosen Southampton City Council as the first local authority to host a city-centre Recycle Zone. This builds on the work the company has been leading across the country over the past year in partnership with Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to launch Recycle Zones in shopping centres, theme parks, transport hubs and universities. 

There are currently 21 other live Recycle Zones which to date have collected some 20 tonnes of material for recycling, with a further 59 Zones planned by the end of 2011. 

Southampton city centre will have 15 double stainless steel bins, liveried with the phrase 'Keep it Going. Recycle' with a further 35 dual recycling and litter bins located in parks and other central locations in the city.

All the new recycling bins are stylish in design and will be branded with Southampton City Council and Coca‑Cola logos alongside information designed to inspire people to recycle more often.

Southampton City Council's waste management team have also been provided with a branded collection vehicle to help with the specific collection and maintenance of the bins.

The launch of the Recycle Zone will be supported by a bespoke advertising campaign across the city, with outdoor, print and digital media all being used to encourage Southampton's residents and visitors to make use of the facilities.

In addition, a new national 'Keep it Going. Recycle' campaign shows how recycling drinks bottles and cans can make a major difference to the environment by cutting the carbon footprint of a packaged drink by over a half.  The campaign continues the work Coca‑Cola undertook last year in partnership with the Carbon Trust which showed that packaging accounts for the largest proportion of a drink's carbon footprint, underlining the importance for the business of using more recycled material in bottles and cans and of helping to increase consumer recycling levels.

The launch of the new Recycle Zone and ad campaign are just a couple of the steps in Coca‑Cola's journey to help consumers do more to reduce their impact on the environment. Despite the difficult economic conditions, research indicates that consumers are still concerned about 'green' issues, with recycling being the most commonly practised 'green' lifestyle behaviour.

As a result Southampton City Council and Coca‑Cola are working to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle more often within the city. By boosting consumer recycling levels, Coca‑Cola will at the same time be increasing the supply of local recyclate and be able to increase the amount of recycled content in its bottles and cans.

Sanjay Guha, President of Coca‑Cola Great Britain, said:

"We're delighted to be launching our first city centre Recycle Zone in Southampton today. Cans and bottles are made of precious materials which can be used again and again through recycling.  We're committed to reducing our impact on the environment: as well as putting our own house in order we must  help our consumers to do more - Recycle Zones are a great way of doing that. We believe that increasing recycling levels is one of the most effective steps we can take to bring us closer to our goal of operating sustainably. Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do - without sustainable, healthy communities we won't have a sustainable business."

Councillor Matthew Dean, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: "This is a fantastic value for money initiative, which will hopefully get more people recycling in the city.  We know that in Southampton we need to do all we can to get people to recycle and, particularly, to make it easy for people to recycle. And by working with Coca‑Cola we can go a long way to achieving this."

Robbie Robinson, Chair of Pensioners Forum said: "This is a great idea, because you can recycle your plastic bottles and drink cans instead of them ending up in the general litter bin.  It will help keep the parks and city clean, green and tidy."

 Ends

 For media enquiries:

Coca‑Cola press office: Tel: + 44 (0)20 8237 3782. Email: gbpressoffice@eur.ko.com

Southampton City Council press office: Oliver Harry Tel: +44 (0)23 8083 2756. Email: oliver.harry@southampton.gov.uk 

Notes to Editors:

The 'Keep it Going. Recycle' campaign breaks across print and outdoor media nationwide on 21^st September 2009.

All aluminium cans used by the business already contain around 50% recycled content and their weight has been reduced steadily over time, leading the industry, with each can now about the same thickness as a single human hair.  

The company's glass bottles contain around 40% recycled glass and the ambition is that all their plastic (PET) bottles contain at least 25% recycled PET by the end of 2012 - in order to achieve this there needs to be much more readily available, good quality recycled plastic in the waste stream - hence the company's focus on promoting recycling.

The Coca‑Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with nearly 500 sparkling and still brands.  Along with Coca‑Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca‑Cola Zero, glaceau vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid and Georgia Coffee.  Globally, it is the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees.  Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, the Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate.  For more information about the Company, please visit the website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com. 

Full results of the carbon footprinting research can be found at www.cokecorporateresponsibility.co.uk along with the many other actions that Coca‑Cola is taking as part of its corporate responsibility strategy. 

'Coca‑Cola', 'Coke', 'diet Coke' and 'Coke Zero' are registered trade marks of The Coca‑Cola Company.