Coca Cola, 3 billion recycled plastic bottles produced at the Biella plant

It has to its credit 3 billion semi-finished products destined to be transformed into bottles, made from 100% recycled plastic. The plant in Gaglianico, in the province of Biella, is a centre of excellence in the processing of recycled pet within the Coca Cola Group. The Biella plant is being relaunched thanks to a €30 million investment made in 2023, where an innovative technology for processing the raw-material has been installed, which has obtained European recognition for use in the food industry.

"All of the Group's production destined for the Italian market is distributed in 100% recycled plastic containers, including the Lurisia water line, for which we have accelerated the process of sustainable packaging transformation," explains Giangiacomo Pierini, Head of Institutional Relations and Head of Sustainability for Coca-Cola HBC Italia. On the occasion of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, the Group, which has been supporting the Olympic Committee since 1928, has developed a sustainable system of product distribution - through electric or biofuel-powered vehicles - and waste sorting, in collaboration with the Coripet consortium.

The plant in Gaglianico (Coca -Cola HBC CircularPet) has been in the group's possession since 1992; in 2014, as part of an industrial reorganisation, it was closed, to be restarted between 2021 and 2022, focusing on the development of an innovative production process, unique within the Coca Cola world, with less than ten similar plants in the world. "We have developed this technology, which is based on an 18-hour processing cycle," explains plant manager Stefano Lorenzon.

To decontaminate the recycled PET, a liquefaction process is started at high temperatures until a resin is obtained in the form of pellets. This material is liquefied again and then transformed, thanks to a precision mould, into small semi-finished products shipped to the Group's various plants, where they become bottles, from 300 millilitres up to 2 litres. The plant is capable of transforming up to 30,000 tonnes of simple post-consumer plastic flakes into new 100% recycled PET every year, destined for the bottles of all Coca-Cola soft drinks and Lurisia Bolle Stille water served during the Games and distributed in the country.