Coca Cola is to invest in Eindhoven-based start-up Ioniqa. This company is to set up a pilot plant in which it will apply its technology for recycling the plastic PET.
Ioniqa has developed a technology that makes it possible to make high-quality recycled PET products from the usually difficult-to-recycle PET plastic. Coca Cola sees fit and has pledged an investment. The deal is designed to accelerate the development and introduction of high-quality recycled PET material for use in bottles issued by The Coca-Cola Company.
Less plastic
This investment supports Coca Cola's global vision to create a waste-free world. The company aims to make packaging that is at least 50% recycled by 2030. The new technology also allows plastics that are usually excluded from certain recycling streams, such as coloured PET bottles, to be recycled and turned into packaging for the food industry.
Coca Cola's investment will allow Ioniqa to scale up and accelerate its technology development. Ioniqa's technology converts PET bottles into purified polymer building blocks that can later be converted into high-quality PET. An industrial plant will be built in the Netherlands in 2019 to apply the technology on a larger scale.
Vision
"Our investment in new and pioneering recycling technologies gives us an opportunity to move significantly towards closing the loop and creating a circular economy for PET," said Robert Long, chief innovation officer for The Coca-Cola Company. "We plan to continue investing in creating the right partnerships and initiatives - such as with Ioniqa - to support our vision of a world without waste."
"Partnering with The Coca-Cola Company is further confirmation of our journey to launch this unique process for the transformation of difficult-to-recycle PET waste into high-quality, food-grade material," said Tonnis Hooghoudt, CEO of Ioniqa. "The Ioniqa process provides significant recovery and reuse of plastic materials that might not otherwise be recycled, while providing high-quality PET. The launch of our plant next year will be an important step in transforming difficult-to-recycle PET plastic into a more widely usable recycled material, and this also supports Coca-Cola's vision. "
Source: Ioniqa/De Ingenieur.
