Content paid for by Coca-Cola Consolidated
Coca-Cola Consolidated is invested in the planet. With a focus on sustainability, the company is aligned to three pillars: Water Leadership, Climate Protection and Package Recycling.
With water as the main ingredient in all the beverages they bottle, they aim to protect every drop. Coca-Cola Consolidated implements water efficiency measures at their manufacturing and distribution facilities. They partner with community organizations by providing upcycled syrup drums that can be converted to rain collection barrels to organizations in the area like Keep Indy Beautiful and the White River Alliance, to help maintain clean waterways in central Indiana and beyond.
By focusing on climate protection, they work to protect the communities they refresh by reducing emissions and energy use within their facilities.
“Our goal is to lower manufacturing energy by 20% by 2028 through innovative bottling, warehouse automation and LED lighting upgrades,” says Todd Marty, sustainability director with Coca-Cola Consolidated. “We’re also light-weighting our plastic bottles and caps, and converting waste to energy to help minimize landfill usage.”
Coca-Cola Consolidated creates and implements innovative ways to recover what they produce to support a circular economy through their Refresh, Recycle and Renew Program. That’s why package recycling is so important to Coca-Cola Consolidated. Their products are packaged in a way that’s made to be remade. Their plastic is PET (polyethylene terephthalate), one of the easiest and most versatile to recycle.
They also know they can’t do it alone. That’s why they seek partnerships in their community to help divert recyclable waste from the landfill.
“As an industry, we strive to get bottles and cans back so we can make them into new packaging,” says Marty. “There is opportunity to see more products get recycled instead of being sent to the landfill. The challenge is getting all stakeholders to facilitate that circular economy.”
One example of partnering right here in the Indy market is an alliance with Republic Services, which operates a recycling center based on the north side of Indy.
“When consumers recycle material, Republic and other haulers bring it to their recycling center where it goes through an automated system, and recyclable materials are separated then bailed to be resold as a commodity that will be made into something again,” explains Marty.
Coca-Cola Consolidated is partnering with several other organizations throughout Indy to help with grassroots infrastructure and education. For example, at the Colts home game on November 10, Marty and his team will engage with fans.
“We’ll communicate and reward tailgaters in the parking lot and fans in the stadium as we collect recyclables to go to Republic,” Marty says.
If you’ve been to Lucas Oil Stadium for a football game or concert, you may have noticed Coca-Cola Consolidated’s repurposed empty syrup barrels that have been upcycled into recycling bins with wraps and lids that clearly communicate where bottles and cans should go.
In addition, Coca-Cola Consolidated works with employers like Recycle Force and Interstate Business Solutions. Both are committed to employing and developing people who have recently been released from correctional institutions, or are current or former unsheltered individuals. These businesses are committed to upcycling lives through employment and job training, while improving the environment through litter removal and recycling efforts.
Marty notes that Coca-Cola Consolidated also works with Osprey Initiatives, the River Network and Keep Indy Beautiful to place a “Litter Gitter” in Indy. It’s more than a catchy name; it’s a floating contraption that’s installed into smaller creeks and waterways that feed into larger rivers and lakes. These trash traps don’t interfere with wildlife, and boats and kayaks can easily navigate around them. When it rains, stormwater runoff flows into drains and pipes that feed into our creeks, carrying with it litter and other types of pollution. The waste that’s captured is sorted and logged by material type and recycled.
November 15 is America Recycles Day, and an important day for Coca-Cola Consolidated. The company has participated in recycling improvement initiatives in central Indiana at local events such as Carmel’s Block Party on Main Street and Porchfest, at the Town of Speedway during the Indy 500 weekend, and on various college campuses to help enhance recycling initiatives.
Coca-Cola Consolidated works with partners across their 14-state footprint to help build circular economies. “Since 2018 we’ve really been working hard to encourage recycling,” Marty says. “It’s the investment we’re making as an organization at Coca-Cola Consolidated; we truly care about our communities as we strive to make meaningful change.”
