CCEP in France to distribute 100% of its packaged beverages in returnable glass bottles to hotels, restaurants and cafes

Coca-Cola in France has announced the launch of a new, universal 250ml returnable glass bottle for its Fuze Tea, Tropico, Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid brands in hotels, restaurants and cafes. They join the Coca-Cola Original, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Cherry brands, in their iconic 330ml bottles, also historically made of returnable glass.

The universal format provides retail outlets and wholesalers easier management of bottle returns. Once empty, the bottles are stored in their own crates and collected for return to the factory to be cleaned and refilled.

This major step forward will stop the equivalent of more than 15 million single-use glass bottles from being produced in 2022, in favour of these new bottles that can be refilled up to 25 times. Saving energy and raw materials, a refillable glass bottle has a reduced carbon footprint: its level of greenhouse gas emissions is three times lower than that of a single-use glass bottle.

Yann Guelorget, CCEP France's Out-of-Home Sales Director, says: "The 160,000 cafés, hotels and restaurants in France will now have the opportunity to receive all our beverages in returnable glass bottles. Right now, we are launching Fuze Tea and Tropico in 250ml recycled glass bottles, Fanta, Sprite and Minute Maid will follow before the end of the year. This aims at appealing to both our retail customers while meeting consumers' expectations."

Packaging accounts for 43% of our total value chain emissions. This project is a significant milestone towards reducing the carbon footprint of our packaging in France, as we continue to innovate in refillable containers and aim to collect 100% of our packaging.

You can read this story on the local site here (in French).