Coca-Cola removes ‘Sprite’ labels in pilot test for UK market

The Coca-Cola Company is conducting a pilot trial in the UK with the launch of a limited batch of de-labelled packaging for its Sprite and Sprite Zero brands. The company will temporarily remove the labels from the individual 500ml bottles of both brands, which will be replaced by an embossed logo on the front of the pack, which will include laser-engraved product and nutritional information on the back of the pack.

The limited edition ‘Sprite’ and ‘Sprite Zero’ are being sold from January until March in eight Tesco Express shops, based in Brighton and Hove, Bristol, London and Manchester.

While the company reports that the labels used so far are fully recyclable, it adds that with their elimination, the need to separate them from the bottles during the recycling process also disappears, as well as reducing the amount of packaging material used.

Coca-Cola Great Britain vice president of franchise operations Dusan Stojankic said: “We want to help create a future where plastic beverage containers will always have more than one life,” adding that “labels contain valuable information for consumers, but with the help of technology we can now try other ways of sharing this information and at the same time reduce the amount of packaging we use…