The average household uses a large number of PET plastic packaging for soft drinks, sanitizers, mouthwash, handwash, beauty products, juice, air fresheners, dishwashing liquid, medicine, cooking products as well as biscuit trays. Coca-Cola in Sri Lanka encourages the public to ensure that the many recyclable PET plastic packaging available at home are responsibly disposed even during these difficult times.

Verifying if a plastic item can be recycled is simple and can be done by checking the plastic identification code located at the bottom or on the side of the package. Plastic identification codes with number “1” on them are fully recyclable PET products. By using this simple method, anyone can easily collect all plastic bottles with the number “1” code at home and dispose of them at the nearest ‘Give Back Life’ bin. By downloading the Waste2Value app, the nearest bin can be located and all PET plastic can be dropped off easily.

Thamari Senanayake, Director- Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability of Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Limited stated, “As a socially responsible company, we strongly believe that PET plastic is not waste but has inherent value and should be responsibly discarded. Educating and empowering people to do this is key and we are proud to have conducted over 100 awareness sessions, reaching over 10,000 people across 12 districts. We request citizens to spread the word as well to ensure that we reduce pollution caused by PET plastic and instead “Give Back Life” to PET plastic by recycling it with Eco-Spindles Pvt. Ltd. into value added items such cleaning brushes, brooms or recycled polyester yarn for clothing. With your help, we can become a cleaner island nation.”

Through Give Back Life programme, Coca-Cola is voluntarily contributing to the ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ initiative which aims to increase plastic waste collection and recycling to minimize plastic pollution, recently launched by the Ministry of Environment and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

With funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF), Coca-Cola Sri Lanka has joined several local partners to implement various initiatives and to conduct trainings, awareness sessions and projects on PET plastic recovery and recycling. Together with implementing partner Solidaridad Network Asia, Coca-Cola partnered with The Central Environmental Authority to develop a significant repository of education and awareness material with a comprehensive trilingual training manual on PET and plastics waste management. Partnered with The Asia Foundation, Coca-Cola has developed a training handbook for ‘Establishing a Sustainable Model for PET Bottle Recycling in Partnership with Local Government Authorities in Sri Lanka’. Further collaborations with other key partners include Enviro, Clean Ocean Force, Sevanatha Urban Resource Center, Janathakshan (Gte) Ltd, and The Rotaract club of Pearl Island island-wide.

Coca-Cola in Sri Lanka affirms its commitment to collection and recycling of PET plastic through its Give Back Life programme and continuously drives awareness sessions with over 125+ partnerships and 510+ PET collection bins placed across the country at strategic locations including supermarkets, temples, highways and other locations to support the collection and clean-up programs throughout the year and assisting in the installation of Material Recovery Facilities and Regional Collection Centres across the island dedicated to recover PET bottles.

This initiative has helped to reduce PET plastic pollution in Sri Lanka, protecting the environment while supporting the national economy. The company actively expands on supporting livelihood driving opportunities for local communities while contributing much needed foreign exchange earnings which in turn leads towards creating a circular economy. Coca-Cola requests every Sri Lankan to support this initiative by collecting all PET bottles at home, and disposing it responsibly, to ensure everyone actively ‘Gives Back Life’ to all PET plastic in Sri Lanka.

The locally initiated 'Give Back Life' programme is a part of 'World Without Waste,' which aims to collect and recycle a bottle or a can for each one the company sells by 2030. World Without Waste, is The Coca-Cola Company’s ambitious sustainable packaging initiative which aims to create systemic change through a circular economy for its packaging alongside bottling partners. The World Without Waste strategy has signaled a renewed focus on the company’s entire packaging lifecycle, from how bottles and cans are designed and produced to how they’re recycled and repurposed through a focus on three fundamental areas: design, collect and partner.