Coca-Cola Europacific Partners says it has launched a regional initiative aimed at strengthening manufacturing supply chains by enabling recycled PET from Pacific Island nations to be processed into new beverage bottles in Australia.
The program, developed with Circular Plastics Australia PET, is intended to create a cross-border recycling pathway for plastic collected in markets with limited local processing infrastructure.
In a media release, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said the first shipment – 9.4 tonnes of community-collected PET from Vanuatu – has arrived in Melbourne for processing at a facility in Altona North.
The company said the material will be recycled into food-grade resin for use in manufacturing applications, including beverage bottles and packaging.
“Creating true circularity in the Pacific requires solutions that operate across borders,” said Orlando Rodriguez, Managing Director – Australia at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
“By moving community collected PET into Australia’s established recycling system, we’re demonstrating that small island nations can fully participate in a modern circular economy, even when local recycling infrastructure is limited.”
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said the initiative is being rolled out across Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu, with further shipments from Fiji and Papua New Guinea expected in the coming weeks.
The company stated the program could recover up to 2,000 tonnes of PET in its first year, with the potential to scale further.
According to the company, the program includes support for local collection systems designed to provide economic incentives and reduce plastic waste, alongside investment in early-stage processing to prepare materials for transport.
Justin Knott, General Manager Sales and Marketing at Circular Plastics Australia PET, said the program builds on existing recycling and manufacturing capabilities.
“Incorporating additional material from Pacific Island nations is a natural extension of that capability and means we can recycle more PET into high-quality food grade resin and help underpin a circular economy that benefits the whole region,” he said.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said the recycled resin produced through the program will be used by the company and Asahi Beverages in manufacturing new bottles, and by Pact Group for food packaging.
The company added that the initiative extends its existing circularity efforts in Australia, including container deposit schemes and recycling facilities in New South Wales and Victoria, each with the capacity to process the equivalent of one billion PET bottles annually, excluding caps and labels.
