Coca-Cola promotes recycling by plastic-bottle-for-free pizza offer in 3 US cities

22 / 10 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

Coca‑Cola has went a step forward beyond its 100 percent recycled plastic bottles by offering consumers free pizza slice and ice-cold 20-oz in exchange of any empty plastic beverage bottle.

For this end, Coca-Cola has teamed up with local-favorite pizzerias in New York, Atlanta and Chicago for “Toss In, Take Out”, a traveling restaurant takeover celebrating the expanded availability of bottles made from 100% recycled plastic, and promoting recycling in support of a circular economy.

The rolling restaurant takeover kicks off Oct. 24 in New York at Bleecker Street Pizza before heading south on Nov. 2 to Goodfellas Pizza & Wings in Atlanta and wrapping up Nov. 7 at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in Chicago.

Coca‑Cola Trademark brands (Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar and Coca‑Cola Flavors) in 20-oz. bottles made from 100% recycled plastic are rolling out this fall across Atlanta, Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. These packages first launched in 2021 and are now available in 11 major U.S. markets including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Houston, and Dallas. To build awareness and encourage action, all 100% recycled plastic bottles include “Recycle Me Again” messaging.

“The expanded availability of Coca‑Cola Trademark products in 100% recycled plastic bottles advances our ambitions to reduce virgin plastic and drive a circular economy for our packaging, the fundamental principle behind our sustainable packaging initiative, World Without Waste,” said Kurt Ritter, Vice President & General Manager, Sustainability at The Coca‑Cola Company North America. “Our ability to use 100% recycled plastic bottles is a direct result of consumers’ sustained commitment to recycling. In the future, we plan to bring this design innovation to more brands and markets.”

The expanded rollout of 100% recycled plastic bottles supports The Coca‑Cola Company’s World Without Waste goal to use at least 50% recycled material in bottles and cans by 2030. With 20-oz. bottles made from 100% recycled plastic expanding its availability, Coca‑Cola expects to save over 37 million pounds of new plastic on an annual basis—the equivalent of approximately 890 million bottles—in 2024 alone.

The shift is also estimated to reduce over 39,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent annually in the United States—the equivalent of taking around 8,400 cars off the road for one year.

Demand for recycled plastic (PET) exceeds supply, so the first step to scaling use of 100% recycled plastic bottle material across the Coca‑Cola portfolio is building a sustainable pipeline of high-quality material. That’s why the company is focused on partnering with communities to boost PET recycling and collection—in addition to collaborating with recycling partners to secure recycled plastic—to help ensure material for its packaging is used again and again.