More than 150 Coca-Cola employees took to Ireland's beaches last Friday (September 13) to help clean up Ireland's coastline.
The volunteering initiative, which took place ahead of next weekend's Big Beach Clean event, is part of the company's ongoing strategy to achieve a world without waste.
Together, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) and the Coca-Cola Company employ 1,600 people in Dublin, Ballina, Wexford, Drogheda, Lisburn, Cork and Tuam.
Employees from all locations took part in six beaches cleans across the island to help remove marine litter.
An estimated 1.5 tonnes of litter which equates to 213 bags were removed from the coast over the course of the day, thanks to the effort of volunteers, the drink giant said.
"Clearing beaches of unwanted litter not only benefits the marine environment but will hopefully inspire others across the island to do the same in the coming weekend," said Matthieu Seguin, general manager, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) Ireland and Northern Ireland.
World Without Waste
Coca-Cola said that its global sustainable strategy, World Without Waste, aims to design more sustainable packaging and collect the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030.
"Our participation in the Big Beach Clean is part of our efforts to help create a world without waste," Seguin explained. "We recognise that with our market-leading brands comes a responsibility to help tackle the issue of waste at its source. That is why, in addition to this volunteering initiative, we recently invested in recycled plastic in order to eliminate 2,000 tonnes of virgin plastic from circulation annually."
© 2019 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
