Coca-Cola Amatil: NZ $35m beverage boost
New Zealand prime minister John Key opened CCA's new Auckland site on Saturday, and its bottling lin…New Zealand prime minister John Key opened CCA's new Auckland site on Saturday, and its bottling lines include 'blow-fill technology' that will allow Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand (CCANZ) to design and self-manufacture its own PET plastic beverage bottles using less raw materials.
Coke's anchor Asia-Pacific bottler and distributor, based in Sydney, Australia, will be able to produce approximately 28,000 bottles per hour on each blow-fill line following the Auckland investment.
The NZ$35m (US $28.3m) Auckland upgrade follows the announcement of an NZ$15m investment at CCANZ's Christchurch plant earlier this year and form parts of CCA's AUS $450m (US $472m) investment in blow-fill manufacturing, the largest infrastructure investment for the company in a decade.
The technology is being installed across CCA's production facilities in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji from 2010-2015.
CCA MD, George Adams, said: "Blow-fill technology will provide a quantum lift in the company's manufacturing capability in New Zealand. Innovation like bottle self-manufacture heralds a step change in sustainable packaging, delivering changes which are good for the company, our customers and crucially the environment in which live and operate."
Blow-fill bottle technology cuts the carbon footprint of every bottle produced by around approximately 20%, due to bottle redesigns using less PET resin, and production line energy savings, while in-house production removes the need to transport empty bottles from a third-party supplier.
CCANZ estimates it will save around 650 tonnes (or 12%) of PET resin per year, which equates to 24m 600ml PET Coke bottles, with its new PET bottles (used for CSDs L&P, Schweppes, Deep Spring and Coca-Cola) 10-15% lighter.
Other material savings include reducing the use of secondary packaging, making labels lighter, and cutting-out the need for a plastic liner in closures.
