COCA-COLA AND UST TRADING JOIN HANDS TO COLLECT AND RECYCLE PLASTIC IN CAMBODIA
Phnom Penh, 19th September 2022 – Coca-Cola Cambodia Beverage Company Ltd. (Coca-Cola Cambodia) and UST Trading sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support collection and recycle of PET* plastic bottles in Cambodia. By signing the MOU, both parties expect to collect and recycle 1,500 tonnes PET in Cambodia by the end of 2022.
The MOU signing ceremony welcomes His Excellency Dr. Tung Ciny, Secretary of State of The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ms. Meloney Lindberg, The Asia Foundation Cambodia Country Representative, and other shared-vision partners of Coca-Cola Cambodia.
Within this MOU, UST Trading will collect PET plastic bottles to turn them into new products, as part of Coca-Cola Cambodia’s initiative towards a World Without Waste vision, supported by Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation (MISTI).
“The Coca-Cola Company has a global ambitious goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030. That is why this partnership with UST Trading to collect and recycle PET plastic bottles is a meaningful step for Coca-Cola Cambodia towards a World Without Waste vision. We believe that the partnership will not only help us working towards our sustainability goal, but also boosting plastic waste collection and recycling rate of the country.”, said Mr. David Wigglesworth, CEO of Coca-Cola Cambodia Beverage Company Ltd.
Coca-Cola Cambodia has been supporting local collection and recycling since 2020. Up to now, the company has been helping to collect and recycle 1,450 metric tons of plastic bottles into other new useful products.
“We are grateful for the lead and support shown by Coca-Cola Cambodia on recycling plastic bottle. As a producer of bottles, we are always looking for support from NGOs, private companies and government to stabilize the feedstock and facilitate the recycling process for a better product yield. Which is why today we, at UST Trading, are proud to be a partner with this well-known company Coca-Cola.” Shared, Mrs. Chhar Kealy, CEO of UST TRADING.
In 2020, Coca-Cola Cambodia launched the Dasani 350ml made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET)**, marked the first introduction for high-quality food-grade rPET packaging for beverages in the country. Last year, Coca-Cola rolled out a prominent ‘Recycle Me’ message across all its packaging in Cambodia and replaced its iconic green Sprite bottles with a clear pack in order to make the bottles easier to recycle. The company also helps to raise communities’ awareness on proper waste sorting and recycling through partnerships with government, university and NGOs, deploying a thousand of segregation trash-bins at over 120 schools, wet markets and public areas across the country.
For low-value plastic like the plastic wrap, Coca-Cola Cambodia has launched “Give Plastic Wrap a Second Life” program since 2020 to encourage our distributors, wholesalers and retailers within its supply chain to sort and return the plastic wraps to the company. By doing so, 30 tons of plastic wraps were collected and proceeded as of August 2022, rather than disposing to nature or ending up in landfill.
To learn more about the World Without Waste initiatives of Coca-Cola Cambodia, click here.
*PET plastic also known as Polyethylene Terephthalate.
**except cap and label