Coca-Cola’s ‘Give Back Life’ clean-up drive at Kataragma nets 4,000 kg of PET bottles

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. (CCBSL) partnered with Eco-Spindles Ltd. and the Kataragama Committee in a PET plastic bottle clean-up and recycling program during the Kataragama Festival of July 2018. Approximately 100,000 plastic bottles (approx. 4,000 kg) were collected during the event. Utilising advanced recycling technology, Eco-Spindles will transform the bottles into brooms and brushes. The Kataragama clean-up is part of CCBSL’s ‘Give Back Life’ commitment – an ambitious goal to help collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle we sell in Sri Lanka.

The clean-up drive also raised awareness about the need for disposing litter in a responsible manner, and reusing or recycling as much as possible. The program was championed by volunteers from the Kataragama Festival Committee, particularly the Environmental Society, from the recycler Eco-Spindles and Coca-Cola’s Matara Sales Team who oversee the area, all working side by side. Gloves and poly bags used during this clean-up and collection programme were recycled too. 

Eco-Spindles Ltd. Head of Sourcing Priyankara Dissanayaka further added, “The importance of recycling needs to be visible which is why it’s important for all stakeholders and members of the community to come together to use this material to its fullest which benefits many more and the country as a whole. It is a great partnership to be able to work with Coca-Cola for the second year in a row alongside the Kataragama Festival Committee and other volunteers to preserve the nature of the Festival and its sacred grounds. We were able to successfully educate the pilgrims and collect a significant number of PET plastic bottles which can now be recycled, generating income and benefitting waste collection workers.” 

Commenting on the initiative, CCBSL Country Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Manager Lakshan Madurasinghe said, “We are pleased with the efforts of our ‘Give Back Life’ clean-up programme at the Kataragama festival, for the second year in a row. It succeeded in raising awareness and empowering the community to be more conscious about litter and disposing of waste in a responsible manner. As a player in the beverage industry, we want to engage actively in ensuring waste does not unnecessarily end up in landfills but ensure to give it back life by reusing or recycling. We wish to thank all the volunteers who joined hands to make this clean-up and collection programme a success.”

In the second consecutive year of initiating a PET collection drive whilst educating the public, the Kataragama Festival Committee consisting of all local government authorities and stakeholders, supported the strong efforts to preserve this ancient, cultural and heritage site of Sri Lanka. Coca-Cola hopes, through engagement with large numbers of attendees at such nationally important events, that it will be able to spread the message swiftly and efficiently about the importance of PET plastic collection and recycling. 

‘Give Back Life’ continues to drive locally The Coca-Cola Company’s global ‘World Without Waste’ goal to help collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of its packaging by 2030. This goal is the centrepiece of the Company’s new packaging vision in Sri Lanka.