Coca-Cola: First in Hong Kong in Recycling Plastic Bottles to Create New Ones Leveraging Its Own Facilities
- Written by Media Outreach
Continuing to advocate for and invest in well-designed collection systems to help reduce beverage packaging waste
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 15 October 2025 - Coca-Cola in Hong Kong, represented by The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partner Swire Coca-Cola in the city, announced today a significant leap forward in its commitment to helping Hong Kong reduce beverage packaging waste with a more well-designed approach: becoming the first in the metropolis to recycle locally collected plastic bottles into new ones leveraging the advanced recycling facility supported by the Coca-Cola System in Hong Kong.
Coca-Cola has become the first enterprise in Hong Kong to recycling plastic bottles into new ones leveraging its own facilities. The launch event was graced by Dr Samuel CHUI, JP, Director of Environmental Protection (third from the left), Hon LAU Kwok-fan, MH, JP, Chairman, Panel on Environmental Affairs, Legislative Council (second from the left); Hon KWOK Wai-keung, BBS, JP, Member (Functional Constituency – Labour), Legislative Council (third from the right); Hon LUK Chung-hung, JP, Member, Legislative Council (second from the right), Mr Richard GOULD, Director and General Manager, Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong (far left); and Ms Iris LEE, General Manager, Hong Kong and Macau, The Coca-Cola Company (far right).
"Every locally produced 500ml Coca-Cola® Trademark beverage or bonaqua® water (1.5L or below) you enjoy, there's a good chance the bottle is now made from locally recycled plastic," shared Karlijn in t Veld, Vice President of Operations for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Mongolia at The Coca-Cola Company. "This isn't just about refreshing the world; it's about making a tangible difference for a better Hong Kong, one bottle at a time." 
Guided by Mr Richard GOULD, Director and General Manager, Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong (far left) and Ms Iris LEE, General Manager, Hong Kong and Macau, The Coca-Cola Company (far right), Dr Samuel CHUI, JP, Director of Environmental Protection, HKSAR Government (third from the left), Hon LAU Kwok-fan, MH, JP, Chairman, Panel on Environmental Affairs, Legislative Council (second from the left); Hon KWOK Wai-keung, BBS, JP, Member (Functional Constituency – Labour), Legislative Council (third from the right), Hon LUK Chung-hung, JP, Member, Legislative Council (second from the right), visited Coca-Cola’s local production facility where rPET bottles made from locally recycled plastics are used for new packaging.
This holistic local approach is vital for Hong Kong, which faces unique challenges in managing beverage packaging waste. It is made possible by the significant investment by Swire Coca-Cola, one of the world's largest Coca-Cola bottlers, in New Life Plastics Limited (NLP). As Hong Kong's first food-grade-ready plastic bottle recycling facility, NLP is designed to process up to 2 million plastic beverage bottles daily. However, it currently processes less than 800,000 daily, highlighting the critical need for increased collection efforts from the community. Understanding Local Recycling Landscape A recent Coca-Cola Hong Kong survey* of 1,125 local consumers sheds light on the public's recycling habits and the challenges that Hong Kong faces in its recycling efforts, thus underscoring that while Hong Kongers are willing to recycle – with 67.29% said they 'are already trying to recycle as much as possible' – they need more accessible infrastructure. 
Leveraging its own facilities, Coca-Cola has become the first enterprise in Hong Kong to recycle plastic bottles into new ones. rPET bottles made from locally recycled plastics are used for new packaging at Coca-Cola’s production facility in Shatin.
The survey revealed that the top challenges for recycling are "insufficient or inconvenient recycling infrastructure" (77.16%). Many also expressed concern that "recyclables are not properly processed" (24.09%). Coca-Cola's Continued Commitment in Hong Kong Consumer preference for sustainable products is clear, with 63.56% prioritizing environmentally friendly packaging and 80.98% indicating that manufacturers' sustainability efforts increase consumers' purchase intent. Over the years, Coca-Cola in Hong Kong has continued to increase the use of recycled material in their primary packaging, while also achieving many other packaging innovation milestones, including but not limited to: - Reducing Plastic:
- Each bonaqua® 500ml bottle weighs just 11.8g, 52.8% lighter than typical PET bottles**.
- Rethinking Packaging:
- Various Coca-Cola brands have started using rPET in bottle production since 2019. In 2020 and 2024 respectively, bonaqua® water (1.5L or below) and Coca-Cola® Trademark beverage (500ml) adopted 100% rPET to produce their bottles, excluding caps and labels.
- bonaqua®'s label-less bottles not only reduce packaging waste, but also help improve their recyclability...