Coca-Cola make recycling pledge for London 2012

Ahead of the London Olympics next year, Coca-Cola has announced they are going to recycle all clear plastic bottles collected during the Games, before turning them into coke bottles.

Coca-Cola is “the longest continuous corporate partner of the Olympic Games” according to its website, and next year’s event in London is no different.

As part of their mission to create a “sustainable Games“, the drinks manufacturer has now pledged to recycle all clear Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles collected in the capital, as they strive to “deliver a greener Games“.

Coca-Cola has joined forces with recycling experts Sita UK to undertake the project, which will see some 80 million new coke bottles being made.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) have labelled the 2012 event as a “zero waste Games“, with around 70% of all the waste set to be reused, recycled or composted.

This will happen at a recycling facility in Hemswell, Lincolnshire, which hopes to have doubled its production rate by the start of the Games to recycle more than 75,000 tonnes of PET bottles a year.

The news comes after Coca-Cola, a major backer of the American National Park Foundation (NPF), showed its disregard for plans to ban the sale of disposable water bottles at the Grand Canyon National Park, where discarded bottles account for around 30% of total waste.