Coca-Cola HBC Italia prepares to reopen its Gaglianico plant

Coca-Cola HBC Italia has announced a more than €30 million investment aimed at reopening its plant in Gaglianico (BI) which halted production in 2013. The largest investment in sustainability in the Group’s history, it will involve the installation of state-of-the-art technology to convert the plant into an innovative facility capable of transforming up to 30,000 tonnes of PET per year into new 100% recycled PET (rPET) bottles for its beverages.

Following on from the more than €100 million invested in sustainability in Italy over the last 10 years, this investment represents a concrete response to the requirements of the European Directive on Single-Use Plastic (SUP) which came into force in Italy on 14 January.

The project is divided into two stages. In the first step due to be completed by March, the facility will begin the process of transforming resin obtained from virgin and recycled PET into preforms which will subsequently be converted into bottles by means a blowing process. In the second step, which will be completed by July, the plant will become fully operational with in-house production of the rPET resin.

The 18,000 square metre site will be powered entirely by renewable energy and when fully operational will have more than 40 direct employees. The investment reflects the importance that Coca-Cola HBC Italia attaches to the Piedmont region, where it already has a sales team and a plant for bottling Lurisia water located in Roccaforte di Mondovì (CN).