Recycled plastic use at Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has reached 50% in the business’s core portfolio.

All plastic bottles, which are 100% recyclable, now use 50% recycled plastic in brands such as Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Lilt – and CCEP pledges remaining brands will follow suit later in the year.

The move means Coca-Cola in Great Britain is now using more than 21,000 tonnes of recycled plastic per year.

Stephen Moorhouse, General Manager at Coca-Cola European Partners Great Britain, said: “This milestone marks an important step towards our ambition across western Europe to remove all non-recycled plastic from our bottles.

One of the key challenges the industry currently faces is that there isn’t enough food-grade recycled plastic locally available in the UK to switch to 100% rPET across our entire range.

There needs to be more high-quality recycled plastic produced, so it’s vital to make sure we collect more bottles in an efficient way, and stop it ending up as waste.

Although all our bottles have been 100% recyclable for many years, too many are still not being recycled.

That’s why we support the introduction of a well-designed Deposit Return Scheme. This will really encourage more people to recycle.”

Waste and Resources Programme (WRAP) strategic engagement manager Helen Bird said: “It takes 75% less energy to make a plastic bottle from recycled plastic compared with using virgin material, and it’s always important to remember that using recycled content in the manufacture of new products and packaging is the whole point of recycling.

This announcement by Coca-Cola, one of our founding UK Plastics Pact members, is good news for the environment and good news for industry.”