Coca-Cola’s twelfth Sustainability Report for 2014/2015 released this week shows that globally the company is continuing to make progress on its water stewardship goals.
In 2007, the company set a goal to safely return to communities and nature an amount of water equivalent to what is used in its beverages and their production by 2020. In 2014, Coca-Cola replenished an estimated 94 percent (a calculated estimate of 153.6 billion litres) of the equivalent amount of water used in its finished beverages worldwide (based on 2014 sales volume) through 209 community water partnership projects in 61 countries. Based on this performance, Coca Cola believes it will meet the goal by the end of 2015 – five years ahead of target.
The report also says that Coca-Cola’s system-wide water efficiency has improved for the twelth year in succession. In 2014, water efficiency improved 2%, for a total improvement of 10% since 2010. The progress builds on the 21.4% efficiency improvements achieved from the initial water efficiency goal from 2004 to 2012. Compared with 2004, when the company was using 2.7 litres of water to make 1 litre of product, Coca-Cola, a founding partner of the Water Footprint Network, is now using 2.03 litres of water to make 1 litre of product.
Coca-Cola’s 2020 goal is improve water efficiency in manufacturing operations by 25% compared with a 2010 baseline and to reduce usage to 1.7 litres of water per litre of product (a 25% improvement) by 2020.
A number of the beverage giant’s bottling plants are already using 1.7 litres of water, or less, to make a litre of product.
Coca-Cola’s key driver in improving water efficiency is reducing or removing water use in manufacturing processes. The global drinks group has made significant investments over the years in new technologies and operating procedures that replace or reduce water use. Water footprinting to assess the total volume of water used to produce a product is helping the company extend its view of how water is used across its manufacturing processes and supply chains - studies have shown that around 80 percent of the total water footprint of Coca-Cola’s products comes from its agricultural ingredient supply chain.
The company has invested approximately $1 billion in its wastewater management systems world wide. Wastewater treatment is a standard operating requirement adopted by the Coca-Cola system. To date, all of its company-owned plants are compliant with its wastewater treatment standards and either fully treat wastewater on site or use a municipal or government-approved wastewater treatment plant with secondary treatment. All but one of the plants in the Coca-Cola system are compliant with, or in the process of adopting, the standards.
Coca-Cola’s internal wastewater treatment standards call for all water it discharges to be treated to 20 water quality parameters, including the following levels:
- 5-day Biological Oxygen Demand <50MG/L
- pH Level 6.5 -8 (depending on receiving stream water conditions
- Total Suspended Solids <50 MG/L
- Total Dissolved Solids <2,000 MG/L
- Total Nitrogen <5 MG/L
- Total Phosphorus <2 MG/L
Click here to download Coca-Cola’s Sustainability Report for 2014/2015
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