Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Australia has strengthened its commitment to a circular economy for beverage containers by rolling out consumer-facing Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) at its major production sites.
The first RVM was officially opened in partnership with Return-It, the east zone network operator for Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme (CDS VIC) at CCEP’s Moorabbin production site.
This initiative is part of a broader effort to make recycling more visible and accessible for both employees and local communities, while reinforcing CCEP’s long-standing support for container deposit schemes around Australia.
“Coca-Cola has been proudly made in Moorabbin for more than 65 years. Now, with the installation of this Reverse Vending Machine, our consumers can return their containers for recycling right where their favourite drinks are produced,” said Orlando Rodriguez, Managing Director – Australia at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
“Container deposit schemes provide valuable opportunities for Australians to recycle beverage containers. With schemes now established and operating in every state and territory, our focus is on working together with government, industry and the community to supercharge recycling rates. Scaling the accessibility of collection points is critical to achieving this. At CCEP, we want to help make recycling containers more convenient – and so we’re using our own sites to provide local communities with easy-to-access collection points.”
CCEP has played a key role in co-founding and expanding container deposit schemes across Australia for nearly 50 years, including Victoria’s, which celebrates its second anniversary this month and has collected more than two billion containers since launch.
In addition to the collection point in Moorabbin (VIC), CCEP aims to roll out RVMs at other production sites nationally.
Together with Pact Group, Cleanaway, and Asahi Beverages, CCEP is part of the Circular Plastics Australia (PET) joint venture that has established two state-of-the-art PET recycling facilities in Australia in recent years. Located in Altona North (VIC) and Albury (NSW), the sites can process up to 2 billion 600ml PET bottles annually (excluding caps and labels).
CCEP takes producer responsibility seriously and remains firmly committed to creating a more circular future for its packaging in Australia. This forms part of the company’s sustainability action plan, This is Forward, which sits at the heart of CCEP’s long-term business strategy.
