Local Coca-Cola bottler to replace 200,000 pounds of plastic a year with WestRock paper packaging solution
Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages, a local Coca-Cola bottler serving Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City, and WestRock will collaborate to implement a paperboard carrier that replaces plastic rings for its multipack bottled beverages. WestRock’s PETCollar™ Shield Plus paper-based packaging will be used at Liberty’s Philadelphia production facility to package Coca-Cola’s top brands in multipacks. The 12 ounce (355 millileter) and 16.9 ounce (500 milliliter) products packaged with the durable, easy-to-hold carriers will be distributed throughout Liberty’s multi-state territory. Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages will be the first bottler in the world to implement the PETCollar Shield Plus bottle clip solution. “We’ve made it our mission to invest in technology that produces recyclable beverage containers that can return to our system while significantly reducing the need for secondary plastic packaging,” said Fran McGorry, co-owner of Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages. “We know the most valuable change to reduce plastic waste occurs when bottlers and packaging producers work together. We are proud to partner with WestRock to make this change.”