by Shane Henson — July 27, 2012—The Coca-Cola Company has developed and tested at commercial scale a first-of-its-kind beverage process water recovery system to produce high-quality water that meets and/or exceeds drinking water standards for use in non-product activities such as clean-in-place and bottle washing.
According to the world’s largest beverage company, the innovative system expands the range of manufacturing applications for recovered process water and sets a precedent for conservation and reuse in the beverage industry.
Cola-Cola says that by reusing rather than treating and discharging the water used in bottling facilities, the company can reduce operational water needs and improve water use efficiency by up to 35% while reducing its water footprint.
In the Coca-Cola system alone, this new water reuse approach could save as much as 100 billion liters of water annually if implemented across all bottling plants, the company notes. The Company is currently reviewing internal plans to rollout this technology to its bottling partners and align plans for implantation across bottling facilities in 2013 and beyond.
