AFRICA – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), the eighth largest Coca-Cola bottling partner worldwide, has underscored its dedication to environmental sustainability in celebration of World Environment Day.
Tshidi Ramogase, CCBA’s Chief Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Officer, highlighted the company’s strategic focus on creating sustainable solutions to build resilience and drive positive change for the planet.
“At Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, our sustainability strategy is centered around people—consumers and our employees—and driving sustainable solutions that build resilience into our business to respond to current and future challenges, while creating positive change for the planet,” Ramogase stated.
Water conservation is a key priority for CCBA, as water is the primary ingredient in all Coca-Cola beverages. The company’s 2030 water security strategy emphasizes increasing water security through partnerships that ensure a steady supply of clean water for communities and ecosystems in operational areas.
“We contribute toward sustainable, clean water access that improves livelihoods and wellbeing while protecting against water-related disasters. Inside our operations, we are committed to regenerative water use, meaning using less water as well as re-using and treating wastewater,” Ramogase explained.
In Kenya, CCBA recently inaugurated a new wastewater treatment plant at its Equator Bottlers plant in Kisumu. This facility will treat and recycle wastewater generated from the production process, which will then be used for non-potable purposes such as irrigation and cleaning.
Similarly, Coca-Cola Beverages Botswana partnered with the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources to donate treated water from its plant for agricultural irrigation.
In addition to water sustainability, CCBA is committed to advancing a circular economy to minimize waste and carbon emissions.
The company aims to increase the use of recycled content in packaging, expand the use of refillable bottles, and enhance recycling efforts through initiatives like Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste.
“We’re working to use more recycled content in our packaging, to expand our use of refillable bottles, and to collect packaging for recycling through Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste initiative. We also partner to design new solutions for packaging,” Ramogase said.
One notable initiative is the PET Recycling Company (PETCO) established in South Africa in 2004. PETCO promotes and regulates the recycling of PET plastic, focusing on recovering and recycling beverage PET plastic bottles. The success of this model has led to its extension into Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and plans to include Namibia.
“While we strive to make progress on our own, we are committed to fostering partnerships that drive collective impact in areas including water stewardship, packaging circularity, climate action, and many more,” concluded Ramogase.
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