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Coca-Cola invests R400m in new bottling plant |
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October 2009 |
Coca-Cola SA will invest R400m in a new Valpre water bottling plant in Heidelberg, south of Johannesburg, following its acquisition of a natural water source on a farm located southeast of the town.
The company selected Heidelberg as the ideal location because of its
fitting mineral composition and water age, as well as its close
proximity to the target market.
Bill Egbe, president of Coca-Cola SA, said at the groundbreaking
ceremony last week: ''This investment is in line with our environmental
and business objectives, and will help reduce our carbon footprint and
ensure demand fulfilment of our brands.''
Just over a quarter of the investment will be spent on the plant and
equipment, including a state-of-the-art packaging facility. The rest
will go towards green buildings (natural light, solar heating, etc),
tarring the existing gravel road using manual labour and rehabilitating
the 500ha farm on which the water source is situated to original
Highveld grassland - also a labour-intensive project.
Project manager Casper Durandt says that the water source has a
lifespan of several hundred years as long as there is rain. “Only 6% of
the yearly rainfall will be tapped, bottling an initial 50m litres per
year, which we anticipate will increase to 150m litres once the
plant is fully operational.”
The water will be packaged on site using sophisticated blow-filling
technology that allows for the bottles to be filled during the
manufacturing of the bottle itself. ''The bottle will start life as a
preform and leave filled, making for a super-hygienic process with no
possible contamination at any stage,'' says Durandt.
He says this is a first for SA, and one of a number of technologies which will put the plant on par with the best in the world.
Durandt also told F&B Reporter that Coca-Cola had made provision
for a recycling facility on site, while rehabilitating the surrounding
land is part of the company's environmental response.
The plant, which is expected to be completed by September 2010, will generate over 300 jobs.
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