NIGERIA – Coca-Cola Nigeria has unveiled the new look of its leading sparkling lemon-lime flavoured soft drink, Sprite, coming in a clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle packaging.
The shift from its iconic green bottle means that more Sprite bottles can be collected, recycled and reused to make new ones, reports This Day.
Coca-Cola has embarked on the roll-out of the new bottles with the transition period set to take place from November to December 2020.
“The current green bottles have over the years helped the Sprite brand stand out. Making this move to clear bottles emphasizes the importance we place on the environment by ensuring our packaging is more useful and ultimately, more eco-friendly.
“The transparent look also offers us an opportunity to take a second look at the Sprite design and modify it to fit our consumers’ ever-changing tastes,” Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Abiodun Ajiborode said.
With its presence in over 190 countries, including Nigeria, Sprite’s new transparent look features a see-through bottle, refreshed icon of the brand’s bold and Sprite ‘spark’ with a distinct label and bright green cover.
The move is part of Coca-Cola’s ‘World Without Waste’ vision, which targets to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle it sells and reach 50% recycled content of all its packaging by 2030.
The World Without Waste campaign represents Coca-Cola’s commitment to doing business sustainably through job creation for members of its host communities, financial empowerment and elimination of environmental waste.
“The current green bottles have over the years helped the Sprite brand stand out. Making this move to clear bottles emphasizes the importance we place on the environment by ensuring our packaging is more useful and ultimately, more eco-friendly.”
Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited – Abiodun Ajiborode
With grants of over US$1million from The Coca-Cola Foundation to multiple NGOs in Nigeria, several recycling and women empowerment programs are being implemented to address the issue of environmental protection while empowering women who are significant pillars of the society.
Coca-Cola has further invested in building an industry coalition that has birthed the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA).
FBRA is an alliance of responsible and forward-looking companies united by a shared concern for the environment and a commitment to collaborate with all stakeholders in building a sustainable recycling economy for food and beverage packaging waste.
These efforts have so far led to the recovery and recycling of over 55 million bottles.
Additionally, through Coca-Cola System’s investment in a foremost recycling company, Alkem, more than one billion PET bottles were collected and recycled in Nigeria into fibre and other products from 2005 to 2011.
About 1,800 people were also directly employed on an average income of US$6 per day; which is three times the national average.
With such impressive feats, the Coca-Cola Company aims to build on these already existing frameworks with its all-new clear Sprite bottles.
Three months ago, the global beverage company introduced the new Sprite look in South Africa, highlighting that the products glass variant will also migrate to a clear bottle in time.
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