Coke Improves Water Use Efficiency 2%

October 28, 2008

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The Coca-Cola Company released its fifth annual Sustainability Review, “Act. Inspire. Make a Difference. A dialogue of progress and possibility” (PDF).

The company’s total water use increased four percent against its 2006 numbers, but Coke reported a two percent improvement in water use efficiency, with Coca-Cola plants using an average of 2.47 liters of water to make one liter of beverage. Since 2002, the company says it has improved water use efficiency by more than 20 percent, saving more than 160 billion liters of water.

In Coca-Cola Enterprises CRS report released in July, the company said it achieved its target of a three percent improvement in water use ratio over the previous year, using 1.77 liters of water to produce one liter of product.

According to Coca-Cola Amatil, the company’s bottling facility in Australia has become the most water-efficient bottler in Coke’s global system.

Coca-Cola says it has invested $40 million to build the world’s largest PET bottle-to-bottle recycling plant. The plant is expected to produce about 100 million pounds of PET plastic for reuse annually, the equivalent of 2 billion 20-ounce PET bottles. The South Carolina recycling plant is expected to be operational in 2009.

The company has also increased its supplier audits by 28 percent, with a total of 1,313 audits in 2007, compared with 1,029 audits in 2006.

In September, the company unveiled its first rain garden at the company’s Lexington facility.

Coca-Cola rolled out ‘green’ coolers during the Beijing Olympics. The company says the more than 5,600 “eKOfresh” units were free of hydrofluorocarbons.

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Coca-Cola Sustainability Review Omits India

The Coca-Cola company released its 2007/2008 Sustainability Review yesterday, and surprisingly, critical issues facing the company’s operations in India do not find mention in the review. The Coca-Cola company gives itself high marks in its sustainability report which covers areas such as the workplace, environment and community engagement. However, the omission of the issues facing the company in India – various community campaigns accusing the company of creating water shortages and pollution – raise the question whether Coca-Cola’s sustainability report is an attempt to manufacture a green image of itself rather than actually addressing the critical challenges facing the company’s operations….
http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2008/1058.html

Ronaldo Guiterrez | October 29th, 2008