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Focusing on Climate at Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway


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Focusing on Climate at Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway

AmCham

Category: AmCham News

rønnaug

Rønnaug Vinje is the Manager for Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability in Norway and Sweden.

Focusing on Climate at Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway

Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway (CCEN) produces, distributes and sells non-alcoholic beverages within the Norwegian market. Brands include Coca-Cola©, Sprite©, BonAqua©, Powerade© and Chaqwa©. CCEN employs around 700 people, with most working at the production facility and headquarters at Robsrud in Lørenskog, just outside of Oslo. The facility has an annual production of approximately 210 million liters.

Sustainable Packaging and Profitability go Hand-in-Hand at CCE Norway

At CCEN, focus on sustainable packaging is one of the most important research areas for climate work going forward. The packaging is an important consideration in distributing our products, and it is important for us to utilize the packaging in the most efficient way. We estimate that about half of Co2 emissions in our value chain come from packaging, and we therefore have a great responsibility to choose the packaging that is most sustainable for the environment and the society.

Coke inforgraphic

Our goal is to:

  • set the standard for sustainable packaging,
  • achieve zero-waste in our business, and
  • recycle more packaging than we create.

The packaging of our beverages is the first thing our consumers see on the shelves and is therefore crucial in ensuring the quality of our beverages. Focus on reducing environmental impact of our packaging must go hand-in-hand with strict requirements for quality and appearance. For instance, in 2014 we focused upon reducing the quantity of aluminum in our aluminum can lids. By reducing the aluminum in the lids by a few grams we reduced Co2 emissions by 666 tons.

“This shows just how important this initiative is for the environment, while also making business sense by reducing our expenses related to packaging – making focus on climate profitable,” says Rønnaug Vinje, Manager Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability for Norway and Sweden. 

Streamlining the consumption of packaging is important, together with increasing the proportion of recycled packaging. We have begun work on this, and all of the types of packaging used by CCEN currently contain recycled material. This is important for future packaging. In parallel with our efforts to streamline and optimize consumption of packaging material, we are now focusing on a new type of plastic that contains a proportion of bioplastic. This Plantbottle© technology is currently used in all CCEN plastic bottles in Norway. Our commitment to finding alternatives to conventional petroleum-based plastic is fundamental in our climate focus, and we collaborate with the environmental organization ZERO to increase awareness of bioplastic and the environmental benefits the material offers.

KOZ_Can_Dry_20111004To learn more about our work with social responsibility, please visit http://www.cokecce.com/corporate-responsibility-sustainability.

Source: Focusing on Climate at Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway