Environment

Environment

      Environmental overview

      Minimising our environmental impact across the whole value chain is a core target for us. We’ve been setting annual improvement targets since 2004 and are working towards ambitious 2020 goals.

      In 2016, Coca‑Cola HBC committed to new sustainability targets for 2020 to reinforce the sustainable growth of our business and inspire a better future.

      As part of the Coca‑Cola HBC, at Coca‑Cola HBC Armenia we consider sustainability a prerequisite for our long-term business goals. Thus, we have integrated sustainability and environment protection into every level of our operations. Our aim is to decrease energy consumption, emissions, water consumption and wastewater treatment, as well as increase selective packaging waste recovery and recycling in our daily practice. Through meetings with our stakeholders and regular auditing, we identify the most important environmental impacts of our activities, so as to focus our efforts on the areas where we have the greatest impact and can therefore make the most significant contribution. These areas are:

      • Water stewardship
      • Energy and climate protection
      • Packaging and recycling

      We set performance targets for each of these three areas and report our progress as part of a larger group in our Sustainability report. Our bottling plant is also regularly audited against the environmental standards of The Coca‑Cola Company.

      As well as reducing our own impacts, we work with others to address broader sustainability issues. We work with government agencies, NGOs and others to support environmental conservation and education. In particular, we focus on protecting local watersheds and promoting packaging.

      Coca‑Cola HBC Armenia has teamed up with USAID and the Ministry of Nature Protection to tackle water management issues in Hayanist. Coca‑Cola HBC Armenia has teamed up with USAID and the Ministry of Nature Protection to tackle water management issues in Hayanist. Coca‑Cola HBC Armenia has teamed up with USAID and the Ministry of Nature Protection to tackle water management issues in Hayanist.

      Water stewardship

      Water stewardship is a key priority for the Coca‑Cola system. Water is the primary ingredient for our production process, and a necessary resource for our activities. We understand its priceless value, respect it as one of the most precious of shared global resources and work vigorously to conserve it through all our operations.

      At Coca‑Cola HBC Armenia we constantly strive to reduce the amount of water we use for bottling. By incorporating innovative water savings technologies on our production lines, we have managed to improve water use efficiency. Since 2011 we have reduced water consumption by 15 percent while increasing production volumes by 20 percent. 

      The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 20 July 2016 The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 20 July 2016 The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 20 July 2016

      Joining efforts for water conservation

      Water is at the heart of our business. That's why we invest in community water conservation projects and innovative sustainable technologies to replenish the water we use. 

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      Energy and climate change

      To address the urgent threat of climate change, we have adopted an aggressive carbon reduction strategy.

      We are accelerating our efforts in the parts of our business that use the most energy: our bottling plant, fleet and cold drink equipment.

      We are improving our energy efficiency, switching to cleaner energy sources and developing low-carbon technologies. Through innovation and investment, we aim to turn climate risks into new opportunities for sustainable business development.

      • We have adopted the international environmental management system standard ISO 14001 in our plant in Yerevan. The plant is also audited against The Coca‑Cola Quality System standards annually.
      • We replace older equipment and apply newly developed processes to make substantive cuts in the amount of energy required to produce our beverages.
      • We optimise the route to market, using much more efficient vehicles to reduce emissions from our fleet.
      • We develop new cooler models as well as energy management devices to ensure that coolers in the marketplace operate as efficiently as possible. 
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      Packaging and recycling

      We aim to minimise the environmental impacts of our packaging at every stage of its lifecycle. We do this by following our 3Rs principle: Reduce, Recovery, Reuse.

      We reduce the amount of packaging we use and increase our use of recycled or renewable content. Collection, recovery and recycling are also key focus areas for reducing our environmental impact. We encourage our consumers to properly dispose of packaging after consuming our products by raising awareness around the separate collection of packaging materials and advising against leaving litter.

      Selecting our suppliers

      To select our suppliers, we apply extensive pre-assessment criteria and, where applicable, check whether potential suppliers hold ISO 9001, 14001, FSSC 22000 and OHSAS 18001 certification.

      Within our strategic sustainability framework, we also collaborate with our suppliers in order to build a sustainable supply chain as this is where the bulk of our environmental and socio-economic impacts lie. All our suppliers are also required to follow the ethical standards, employment, environmental and work safety practices set out in our Supplier Guiding Principles.

      Sustainable packaging

      Sustainable packaging is central to our sustainability culture and mindset.

      We minimise the environmental impacts of our packaging at every stage of its lifecycle by following our 3 Rs principle: Reduce, Recover & Re-Use. This approach has made a significant difference to our use of primary packaging material and our impact on the environment.

      We continue to identify and capture incremental opportunities for packaging optimisation, driving innovation, our CSR agenda and ultimately cost reduction.

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      Reducing packaging 

      Minimising the amount of packaging we use is one of the most significant ways that we can reduce its environmental impact. In addition to using less material, this helps to reduce the carbon footprint of packaging throughout its lifecycle: from manufacture and transportation to disposal or recycling.  

      Our PET bottles are among the lightest in the marketplace, weighing only 15 grammes they are a third lighter than their predecessors. The Ultra-Glass bottle, which uses a third less glass, is now used in Armenia and 16 other countries in which Coca‑Cola Hellenic operates. 

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      Increasing recycled content

      Our beverage containers consist mostly of recyclable materials: PET plastic, aluminium, steel and glass. Since these are among the most widely recycled packaging materials, another way we can reduce the impact of our packaging is to increase the recycled content in them. Our glass bottles already contain up to 80 percent recycled content. 

      98%

      of waste is recycled at our plant

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      Reducing production waste

      In addition to minimising waste from our beverage containers in the marketplace, we are increasing recycling and minimising wastes in our own bottling plant. In order to achieve this, we collaborate with licensed recycling organisations and governmental institutions.