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This investment supports the company’s global vision to work toward a World Without Waste, which includes a goal to create packaging made of at least 50% recycled material by 2030. The new technology supports the circular economy for plastics by allowing packages such as colored PET bottles that may have been excluded from certain recycling streams to be recycled into food-grade quality packaging.
The agreement is intended to accelerate scale-up of Ioniqa’s recycling technology for PET. Ioniqa has developed a proprietary recycling technology that is able to convert hard-to-recycle PET-containing waste like colored bottles into purified polymer building blocks that can be later re-formed into high quality PET. The technology has been validated at the demonstration scale with value chain partners, and a 10 kMT industrial plant is under construction in The Netherlands for commissioning in 2019.
“Our investment in new and pioneering recycling technologies is an opportunity for significant movement toward closing the loop and creating a circular economy for PET,” said Robert Long, Chief Innovation Officer for The Coca-Cola Company. “We plan to continue investment in developing the right partnerships and initiatives – like with Ioniqa – to support our vision of a World Without Waste.”
“Partnering with The Coca-Cola Company is a further validation of our journey to launch this unique process for transforming hard-to-recycle PET waste into high-quality, food-grade material,” said Tonnis Hooghoudt, CEO of Ioniqa. “The Ioniqa process allows for significant recovery and reuse of plastic materials that might otherwise not be recycled, while delivering quality food grade PET. The launch of our plant next year will be a step change in the transformation of hard-to-recycle PET plastic into a more widely usable recycled material, supporting the vision of Coca-Cola.”
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company, offering over 500 brands in more than 200 countries and territories. In addition to the company’s Coca-Cola brands, our portfolio includes some of the world’s most valuable beverage brands, such as AdeS soy-based beverages, Ayataka green tea, Dasani waters, Del Valle juices and nectars, Fanta, Georgia coffee, Gold Peak teas and coffees, Honest Tea, innocent smoothies and juices, Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks, Simply juices, smartwater, Sprite, vitaminwater and ZICO coconut water. We’re constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We’re also working to reduce our environmental impact by replenishing water and promoting recycling. With our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide. Learn more at Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.comand follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The fairlife® brand is owned by fairlife LLC, our joint venture with Select Milk Producers Inc. Products from fairlife are distributed by our company and certain of our bottling partners.
About Ioniqa Technologies
Ioniqa is a clean-tech spinoff from the Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands), specialized in creating value out of waste by using its proprietary circular technology. With a cost-effective process, Ioniqa is able to close the loop for plastics, starting with PET plastics. This award winning innovation transforms all types and colors of PET waste into valuable sources for ‘virgin-quality’ recycled PET. Up-cycling processes for other types of plastic are being researched and expected to be launched in the near future.