Full Circle, Accelerating the Circular Economy for Post-Consumer PET bottles in Southeast Asia - GA Circular & Coca-Cola

"Plastic waste has fast emerged as one of the biggest social and environmental issues facing the world today.  All of us at The Coca-Cola Company are determined to step up and be part of the solution. With that in mind, we announced last year a commitment called World Without Waste underpinned by a bold, ambitious goal: to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell globally by 2030.

Collaboration towards a circular economy is at the heart of this vision. Regardless of where it comes from, we want every package to have more than one life. To achieve this, we will continue to focus on designing our packaging to be 100% recyclable across our portfolio while partnering with local communities, NGOs, industry and consumers to collect and recycle packaging and help ensure it doesn’t end up where it doesn’t belong.

The report synthesizes GA Circular’s on-the-ground research from ASEAN’s six biggest countries and delivers a first-of-its-kind analysis of collection-for-recycling rates for PET plastic in key ASEAN cities. The report examines the existing recycling and collection challenges and opportunities in Southeast Asia and frames up a circular economy roadmap for post-consumer PET plastic packaging specifically tailored for the region. It concludes with a concrete set of recommendations geared towards interventions with the highest impact.

At Coca-Cola, we are committed to executing these recommendations with our partners, and we have already begun to move in earnest. It is our hope that this report also helps to drive broader understanding, coordination and momentum in our shared efforts to tackle marine plastic pollution in Southeast Asia and globally. Imagine if we all – across multiple sectors – put our combined expertise and resources into solving this problem. Imagine if we all worked to help keep the packaging out of the places where it doesn’t belong. There’s so much more we can do together and, clearly, the time to act is now." - Michael Goltzman, Vice President, Global Policy and Sustainability The Coca-Cola Company