How Coca-Cola Consolidated is driving local sustainability in D.C.

Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S., is making recycling and sustainability efforts more effective in Washington, D.C.

Why it's important: Recycling plays a crucial role in reducing waste, conserving resources and fostering healthier communities.

♻️What you need to know: Through its Refresh. Recycle. Renew. initiative, Coca-Cola Consolidated is building a more sustainable future by working with local businesses and organizations to help support circular economies.

• Across its 14-state territory, the company is supporting closed-loop recycling solutions and expanding access to recycling infrastructure in collaboration with universities, sporting and event venues, businesses and communities.
• These efforts are already paying off. In 2024, Coca-Cola Consolidated collected more than 974 million plastic bottles through its partnership with Circular Solutions Advisors.

📍The impact: In Washington, D.C., Coca-Cola Consolidated is helping turn waste into solutions that directly benefit the environment.

The company partnered with the Washington Capitals and the nonprofit organization Rink2Reef to transform broken hockey sticks into stackable oyster restoration reefs.

🏒Here's how: Instead of sending discarded sticks to landfills, volunteers repurposed them into habitats for oysters and other marine life. Held together by fishing line, the structures provide a surface for oyster larvae to attach and grow.

• Each structure supports as many as 400 oysters.
• One oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day.
• Other aquatic creatures also live on these reefs.

"It's important for us to give back not only to the community but also preserve those opportunities from a water source standpoint," says David Shelek, Mid-Atlantic Market Unit Vice President at Coca-Cola Consolidated​.

🌳Plus, plus, plus: Coca-Cola Consolidated teamed up with the Baltimore Ravens and Safeway to plant trees in Baltimore's Chinquapin Park.

• Ravens players, cheerleaders and the team mascot, Poe, joined Coca-Cola volunteers.
• Over 50 volunteers planted trees in the park.

• They also removed invasive plants that can harm the trees.

Worth a mention: Coca-Cola Consolidated is also leading the way in sustainable packaging innovation.

The company made three big changes to its bottle design to improve sustainability by reducing plastic waste and carbon emissions:

• All 20 oz bottles are now 100% recycled plastic (rPET).
• A new Harmony design that uses less plastic per bottle.
• A lightweight Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) material to reduce plastic in its 20 oz, 500 ML and 12 oz products.

The proof: Coca-Cola Consolidated's shift from its iconic green plastic Sprite bottles to a clear design in 2022 has made it simpler to recycle these bottles into new ones.

Here's what else: The company is finding innovative ways to reduce its environmental impact, including implementing water efficiency measures at 100% of its manufacturing facilities and donating and converting 55-gallon syrup drums into rain barrels.

Looking ahead: Coca-Cola Consolidated is committed to protecting and preserving what matters most — reducing emissions, conserving water and ensuring that every bottle and can is designed to be remade.

Learn more.