Achieving the optimal use of water resources in quantitative terms is among the main priorities of Coca-Cola in Bulgaria, it became clear from the Sustainability Report for 2018, presented today. Among its accents are 29 million liters of water saved in the production centers in Kostinbrod and Bankya, recycling 95% of the generated waste and 556 working days that Coca-Cola employees have dedicated to volunteering.
The information in the report presents the objectives, management and results achieved with regard to the most important topics for the company and its stakeholders for the last year, and proves that one of the world's largest soft drink producers is aiming for reducing the amount of used water to be just as much as it needs.
According to the reported results, Coca-Cola seeks to reduce the amount of water used at each stage of the production and to reuse it. Thanks to the continuous long-term efforts in this direction and improvements in the production process over the last 7 years, the company managed to achieve a record-breaking decline in 2018, reaching just 1.76 liters of water needed to produce 1 liter of beverage. The reported results represent a decrease of 5% in the water consumption, which equals more than 29 million liters of water saved for the whole year or the average annual consumption of drinking water of 800 Bulgarians. In 2018 alone, the company managed to reuse nearly 40 million liters of water.
"As a leading company on the Bulgarian market, we believe that our role is to be environmentally responsible in order to preserve it for future generations. We are proud that in the last decade we have managed to go the long way to improving processes and technologies to achieve the ambitious sustainability goals we set ourselves. We have increased the recycling of waste generated in the production centers and have significantly reduced the water used, "said Juerg Burkhalter, CEO of Coca-Cola HBC in Bulgaria.
Coca-Cola is the first company in the country to introduce the recycling of wet labels from glass bottles. Thanks to this initiative and the recovery of sewage sludge from the Kostinbrod production center, in 2018 the company managed to recycle 95% of generated waste in production, marking a growth of over 24% since 2010.
In addition to rational use of resources, the company regularly identifies and evaluates themes, following good practices according to GRI assessment standards. The report includes an assessment of the contribution of business, the supply chain, trends in local and international markets and policies, and it also tracks how each of these aspects affects the sustainability of the business in the country.
In 2018, the Coca-Cola System in Bulgaria has invested over 360,000 levs in initiatives to support society. In addition, 1,139 employees of the System companies participated in publicly significant projects and dedicated nearly 4,450 hours as volunteers on causes they believed in. This equates to a total of 556 working days or 1 employee for 2 years and 3 months for volunteer activities only.
The initiatives in this direction were honored with seven Corporate Social Responsibility Awards last year, as well as the prestigious award in the category of "Best Partnership #YouthEmpowered Initiative" of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Group. This award placed Bulgaria at the top of all 28 countries in which the company operates. The campaign, which has been implemented in Bulgaria over the past 3 years, aims at building a better future through quality education, developing the potential of young people and their preparation for a successful career path. During the past year 2875 students participated in training sessions for the development of personal qualities and basic business competencies in 13 settlements (Vedrare, Gotse Delchev, Kostenets, Kostinbrod, Lom, Montana, Plovdiv, Parvomay, Samokov, Svoge, Sofia, Stara Zagora and Targovishte). Their mentors became a total of 93 professionals from business, NGO, education and entrepreneurship.
The full text of the report can be found here.
