Coca-Cola and its strategic bottling partners Coca-Cola HBC and Coca-Cola European Partners have announced that they will begin rolling out a minimalist paperboard packaging solution called KeelClip on Coca-Cola's multipack cans across Europe next year, with Ireland being one of the first countries to go live.
As part of this initiative, Coca-Cola HBC will remove shrink wrap from all of its can multipacks in all European Union markets by the end of 2021. In total, Coca-Cola HBC will invest €15 million in KeelClip, and will begin the roll-out in Ireland and Poland early next year, followed by Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Romania in 2020. All of Coca-Cola HBC's European Union markets will have KeelClip by the end of 2021.
The KeelClip will be used on all can multi-packs of up to eight cans while larger can multi-packs will be bound by a carton pack, saving 2,000 tonnes of plastic and 3,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, according to Coca-Cola, which added that 250 tonnes of plastic will be saved in Ireland alone as a result of the move.
Committed To Minimising Environmental Impact
Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland general manager Miles Karemacher stated, "At Coca-Cola HBC, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment, and we're delighted to introduce KeelClip, our latest investment in sustainable packaging to the Irish market. KeelClip is a further demonstration of our commitment to delivering our world without waste goals, eliminating 250 tonnes of shrink wrap plastic across the island of Ireland each year."
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