After a successful trial run in the Eastern Cape, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) announced that it’s launching returnable 2-litre plastic bottles to more parts of the country.

The returnable bottles are made of PET plastic and are labelled with a new paper label, with "Returnable" appearing in green on the front of the bottle. These bottles can be re-used up to 14 times before being recycled and made into new bottles.

The packaging was piloted in the Mandela Bay and Border-Kei districts in the Eastern Cape last year, and is now expected to be rolled out to Northern Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Managing Director of CCBSA Velaphi Ratshefola previously said: "Through innovation and our infrastructure investment in this packaging line, we are providing consumers with greater value for money, whilst introducing a PET plastic bottle that can be reused.”

The recommended retail price for the 2L Coca-Cola Original Taste – Less Sugar beverage is R15, which excludes a R9 deposit. Other brands, like Coca-Cola No Sugar, Sprite and Fanta, are also available in the 2L returnable PET plastic bottle at a recommended retail price of R12 excluding the R9 deposit.

“The launch of these returnable PET bottles is one way in which we are investing in innovative and more sustainable packaging,” says Ratshefola. 

“The new returnable 2L PET plastic bottle also supports The Coca-Cola Company’s global commitments to address the world’s waste problem.”

Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages (PenBev), a separate bottling company which supplies the Western Cape up to Swellendam and including Hermanus and the Northern Cape up to Springbok, already has a 1.5L returnable PET bottle that the company has been successfully producing and selling for the past 28 years. 

"CCBSA decided to go into returnable PET and spent time with the PenBev team last year to explore the opportunity and launched a pilot on the 2L bottle in the Eastern Cape," said PenBev spokesperson Priscilla Urquhart. 

"They now want to roll it out to other provinces, however, it will not be available in the PenBev territory which as mentioned does the 1.5L returnable PET which costs R13 including a R3 deposit (R10 is what is costs the consumer)."

Ratshefola added that CCBSA is committed to increasing recycled material in its packaging and ensuring more packaging is collected and recycled.

 “The launch of the Returnable PET plastic bottle is another way we can use innovation to unlock the value in waste and support a circular economy in South Africa.”