As editor of Tucked away in Coca-Cola Co.'s annual environmental report (released yesterday) is an interesting snippet of news on the company's PET recycling efforts:
The Coca-Cola system also continued to invest in closed loop recycling plants. In 2006, Coca-Cola Beverages Austria finalized a €15 million investment partnership to build the country’s first bottle-to-bottle recycling plant. The plant, which will begin operations in 2007, will have capacity to provide 6,000 tons of recycled PET plastic material for use in new bottles.
This will be an interesting development to watch. Coke is under a lot of pressure right now, especially on the bottled water side of the business, to do something to improve its environmental reputation. If this project in Austria is a commercial success, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried similar projects around the world.