Coca-Cola reaffirms commitment to sustainability on World Environment Day 2022

2019 Give Back Life Kataragama Clean Up

Collection centre

Coca-Cola Sri Lanka marks World Environment Day 2022 by renewing its commitment towards its sustainable initiatives contributing to a world without waste, water replenishment, and combating climate change.

Coca-Cola Sri Lanka’s waste management program is locally initiated as ‘Give Back Life’ that is also a part of Coca-Cola’s global sustainability strategy ‘World Without Waste,’ which aims to collect and recycle a bottle or a can for each one the company sells by 2030. ‘Give Back Life’ connects multiple stakeholders such as waste collectors, recyclers, local governments, civil society, youth groups and the private sector to create an efficient collection and recycling system for PET plastic bottles across the country. 

All PET bottles collected under the program are then channelled to Eco Spindles, Sri Lanka’s largest PET plastic recycler, where they are converted into value-added products such as bristles for brushes and yarn for garments exported to over 15 countries. Overall, since 2017, ‘Give Back Life’ has established over 125 partnerships, 500+ PET plastic collection points, 30+ collection centres and MRFs, conducted 70+ clean up initiatives, and recycled over 40 million plastic bottles, equalling to over 1,148,000 kilos to date. 

Globally, as a part of their ‘Water Stewardship’ sustainability strategy, The Coca-Cola Company has pledged to return 100% of the water used in its manufacturing processes back to communities and nature. Coca-Cola in Sri Lanka has exceeded this goal significantly by replenishing an amount equal to 209% of the water it uses to make its beverage products in the year 2021. This means that for every litre of water used to produce its beverages, the company returns 2 litres of water to communities and nature through impactful local water initiatives. 

These initiatives include the rehabilitation of two ancient water reservoirs in the village of Thammanawa, Anuradhapura, implemented by We Effect Sri Lanka, resulting in water replenishment of 275,000 KL per year. This project was awarded a Best Sustainability Project Award at ‘The Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2020’, organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. In partnership with the ACTED, another non-governmental organisation, a project that benefited approximately 1,700 local farmers from enhanced access to water for irrigation through the rehabilitation of the Samurdhi Tank in Galahitiya village in the Moneragala District was also implemented. The replenish potential of the project is estimated to be 100,000 KL a year. Extending the partnership with We Effect, another project to rehabilitate three tanks was launched at Vakarai, Batticaloa, on World Water Day 2022.

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. (CCBSL) has embraced sustainable manufacturing by successfully installing one of the largest single location rooftop solar projects in Sri Lanka at its facility in Biyagama which will result in the reduction of CCBSL’s carbon footprint by approximately 1.94 Mt per annum. This initiative was awarded the ‘Iconic Rooftop Solar Project of the Year’ at the Annual Solar Awards 2021 at the occasion of the PV Invest Tech Sri Lanka and it is part of the company’s pledge towards sourcing renewable energy and combating climate change. 

This initiative further contributes to Coca-Cola’s ‘Climate Action’ sustainability strategy which aims to reduce its total Green House Gas emissions across its full global value chain by 25% by 2030 from a 2015 base-year. The solar project is a significant investment of over Rs. 200 million and comprises the installation of over 5,000 solar panels covering as much as 80% of the roof at its bottling premises.