Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan and “Welcia” to launch pilot project for PET bottle recycling

News Release

September 17, 2020
Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc.
Welcia Holdings Co., Ltd.

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan and “Welcia” to launch pilot project for PET bottle recycling

Collect PET bottles at 8 stores in Tochigi and jointly promote “Bottle-to-Bottle” initiatives

Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. (Headquarters in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & President Calin Dragan; hereafter “CCBJI”) and Welcia Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & President Tadahisa Matsumoto; hereafter “Welcia HD”) today announced that the two companies will embark on a pilot project for PET bottle recycling starting on September 23 (Wed). The project is scheduled to continue for three months.

The purpose of the project is to collaboratively create a Bottle-to-Bottle (Note 1) recycling model to turn PET bottles collected at Welcia HD’s drugstores into raw materials for new PET bottles. Welcia HD will manage the collection and sorting of PET bottles at its stores, while CCBJI takes charge of the designing and monitoring of a series of recycling processes from picking up the sorted PET bottles to making them into raw materials. From September 23, Welcia HD will install collection boxes at eight outlets of its “Welcia” drugstore chain in Oyama City, Tochigi Prefecture. The collected PET bottles will then be picked up by Kyoei Sangyo Co., Ltd, who is one of the partner companies for Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan’s “Bottle-to-Bottle” initiatives, and delivered to facilities that exclusively produce recycled PET materials, including JAPANTECH Utsunomiya Plant and other facilities run by Kyoei Sangyo Group. After appropriate processing, the PET bottles will be reused as raw material for new bottles. After three months of the project, the collected quantity, quality, and cost data will be examined prior to a full-scale rollout that is planned for March 2021 for more stores and locations.
 

【Process】

The pilot project will leverage Oyama City’s proximity to the recycled PET material manufacturer, JAPANTEC Utsunomina Plant. Oyama City also has many suburban store locations whose main customer base is families. Since used PET bottles collected from households are often washed and presorted, we expect the PET bottles collected in these locations to be of higher quality and suitable for producing recycled materials.

Under the Coca-Cola system’s “2030 Packaging Vision” (Note 2), Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan aims to use recycled PET resin and other sustainable materials for all of our PET bottle products by 2025; collect PET bottles in an equivalent quantity to what CCBJI sell by 2030; and build a solid scheme for bottle collection and recycling with partner companies. Welcia HD has been expanding and strengthening its ESG initiatives in recent years, including the use of paid biomass-based shopping bags to reduce petroleum-derived plastic. The company has been reviewing its current PET bottle collection efforts and is considering a Bottle-to-Bottle scheme for 100% recycling. Given the above, both companies decided to jointly launch this pilot project to apply our combined knowledge and experience in the collection and recycling of used PET bottles, leveraging Welcia HD’s sales network.

Through the project, Welcia HD and CCBJI will contribute to the recycling of used PET bottles and make progress toward creating a bottle-to-bottle recycling infrastructure in Japan.

【Overview of the pilot project for used PET bottle collection】
Period: Approximately 3 months from September 23, 2020 (Wed)
Target shops: 8 Welcia shops in Oyama City, Tochighi Prefecture
(Welcia Oyama Hanekawa, Welcia Oyama Hanagaki, Welcia Oyama Tenjin, Welcia Oyama Hitotonoya, Welcia Oyama Amagaya, Welcia Oyama Inuzuka, Welcia Oyama Ekiminamicho, and Welcia Oyama Nishijonan)

(Note 1) Bottle-to-Bottle:
Bottle-to-Bottle initiatives collect and recycle used PET bottles to reuse as new PET bottles for beverages.
We work on three core elements - “design”, “collect”, and “partner” - to address packaging-derived waste issues.

(Note 2) Coca-Cola system’s “2030 Packaging Vision” (https://en.ccbji.co.jp/csv/environment/?id=tab3)

Sustainability Initiatives of the Coca-Cola System
The Coca-Cola system in Japan includes Coca-Cola (Japan) Co., Ltd. and its five bottling partners around Japan. In accordance with its business purpose to “Refresh the World. Make a Difference,” the system is committed to creating a sustainable business and shared future that makes a difference surrounding important challenges facing Japan. In 2020, it identified three platforms—Inclusion, Communities and Resources—and nine priority issues, and established a common sustainability framework across the system. With the aim of addressing social challenges though its business activities in each field, it will also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Coca-Cola system established its 2030 Packaging Vision in the resources field, comprising three pillars—Design, Collect and Partner—in line with its global vision of a World Without Waste. It established, and is working to achieve, environmental targets specific to Japan, including switching to 100% sustainable materials for all PET bottles by 2030. Refer to the latest Sustainability Report for details of these activities.
https://www.cocacola.co.jp/sustainability
 

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