COCA-COLA AND GRAB JOIN HANDS FOR ‘RECYCLE ME’ PROGRAM TO ENCOURAGE RECYCLING

Alongside Waste4Change and Yayasan Mahija Parahita Nusantara, Program Rewards Consumers for Collecting and Recycling Empty PET Plastic Bottles

Jakarta, 6 October 2023 – Beverage company Coca‑Cola is partnering together with Southeast Asia’s superapp Grab to help consumers recycle empty PET plastic bottles. Together with Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation and Waste4Change, Coca‑Cola and Grab are launching the ‘Recycle Me’ consumer recycling program, offering rewards to encourage people in Jakarta, Tangerang and Bekasi to recycle their plastic bottles.  

This is now the third year Coca‑Cola, Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation and Waste4Change have offered the program, which every year is growing in scale and partner involvement – to help more Indonesians understand the value of recycling. 

"We're on a mission to collect more empty bottles so we can make new ones with them,” said Triyono Prijosoesilo, Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability Director at PT Coca‑Cola Indonesia.  “That’s why we are excited to partner with a leading on-demand mobility and delivery provider like Grab as we boost our collection and recycling initiatives and engage with consumers to give new life to PET plastic bottles. We identified with Grab the opportunity to use their network and logistics to support this goal. It’s a great fit with our World Without Waste vision, under which we are working to support a closed-loop circular economy for our packaging in Indonesia.

Every time you recycle a bottle via ‘recycle me’ - not only are there rewards to win, it also helps our bottles have another life. The bottles collected go onto become another bottle, recycled at the Amandina recycling plant.  

In June 2023, Coca‑Cola introduced bottles made from 100% recycled PET (rPET) — excluding caps and labels —offering Indonesian consumers a sustainable and convenient packaging choice. PET plastic is a recyclable material and can we play a role in a circular economy. Today, one out of every three bottles the company introduces into the Indonesian market is made from locally produced 100% recycled PET plastic. 

Tirza Munusamy, Chief of Public Affairs, Grab Indonesia said, "Grab has set a Carbon Neutral and Zero Waste to Nature by 2040 goal. We believe that preserving the environment and minimizing climate change impact would ensure long-term economic success for our partners and community. Therefore, through this partnership with Coca‑Cola, Mahija Parahita Nusantara, and Waste4Change, we are actively supporting the promotion of recycling habits in Indonesia as our concrete step to achieve zero packaging waste in nature by 2040."

The 'Recycle Me' program will run for three months, from 6 October 2023 to 31 December 2023. Consumers who wish to participate. They can send eight bottles from Coca‑Cola Indonesia’s range of beverage products. The Grab delivery service will deliver all the collected plastic bottles to eight Mahija Parahita Nusantara collection centers located in the DKI Jakarta, Bekasi, and Tangerang areas. 

“The Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation is proud to again be involved in this inspiring program. This effort not only collects empty plastic bottle packaging from consumers to our collection partners, but also supports the efforts to implement a closed-loop circular economy. The collected PET plastic bottles will become raw material, which will then be sent by the Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation to the Amandina Bumi Nusantara recycling facility,” stated Vice Chairman of Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation and Managing Director of Amandina Bumi Nusantara Suharji Gasali.

Amandina Bumi Nusantara is a state-of-the-art facility in Indonesia, established by Coca‑Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia (CCEP) and Dynapack Asia, that processes locally sourced post-consumption PET bottles provided by Mahija Parahita Nusantara and converts them into new bottles, specifically into Coca‑Cola’s 100% recycled PET plastic bottles,” he continued.

The first 20,000 consumers who participate will have the opportunity to get a shipping fee subsidy of up to IDR 30,000. In addition, consumers have the chance to earn reward points, which can be exchanged for phone credit, electricity tokens, and e-wallets worth a maximum of IDR 15,000 on OVO (electronic wallet money). 

Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano, Managing Director of Waste4Change, explained, "We are very proud to be able to once again take part in this inspiring movement. Companies like Coca‑Cola & GRAB can play an important role in using the power and reach of their brands to drive consumer awareness around recycling and help to inspire behavior change. We are certain that the ‘Recycle Me’ program this year will have a significantly greater impact in reducing plastic waste in Indonesia."

Visit https://www.coca-cola.com/id/id/offerings/recycle-me for more information on joining the RECYCLE ME program."

“Once again, we look forward to consumers joining the ‘Recycle Me’ program by collecting, sorting, and sending in their empty PET plastic bottles. It’s as simple visiting our ‘Recycle Me’ website, then the Grab delivery service will send the bottles to collecting centers managed by the Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation. And, just like that, you’ve participated to #BeraniMengubah (Dare to Change) in the effort of #JagaIndonesia (Protect Indonesia),” Triyono concluded.