Coca-Cola HBC Italia, the main producer and distributor of The Coca-Cola Company branded products on the national territory, and Casilli Enterprise, a cutting-edge company from Campania in the transport and logistics sector, today announce a collaboration aimed at putting vehicles powered by low-impact fuels on the road (HVO and BioLNG), which will cover over 1,2 million kilometers of road per year, equivalent to approximately 30 laps around the earth.
In addition to the vehicles powered entirely by HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) and BioLNG already available from the Campania company, a further 65 new next-generation vehicles will be added, the result of an investment by Casilli Enterprise. HVO and BioLNG are biofuels produced from renewable raw materials, such as used cooking oils, animal fats and waste from the processing of vegetable raw materials. They are mainly used to power heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses, and are capable of reducing CO2 emissions in long-distance transport.
Coca-Cola HBC Italia will use biofuel-powered transport vehicles to transport recycled PET flakes from the storage warehouse to the CCH CircularPET factory in Gaglianico (BI), where they will be transformed into 100% recycled plastic (rPET) preforms. These preforms will then be distributed to the Coca-Cola HBC Italia factories in Nogara (VR), Oricola (AQ) and Marcianise (CE). After being blown and filled, the bottles will contain The Coca-Cola Company branded beverages, such as Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, FuzeTea and Powerade. The finished products will then be delivered to customers in the North West, using a round-trip transport mode, which will further optimize the environmental impact. The entire fleet will make at least 4.000 trips per year, for a total of over 1,2 million kilometers powered by biofuels, thus contributing to the reduction of Scope 3 emissions also for Coca-Cola HBC Italia customers.
“Collaboration with our partners is one of the fundamental strategic pillars of the international Net Zero By 40 program, with which in 2021 the Coca-Cola HBC Group committed to achieving zero net emissions along the entire value chain by 2040.” Says Antonino Leonello, Logistics Manager of Coca-Cola HBC Italia. “The Casilli Group is a historic supplier for us, with whom we have been working for years to decarbonize our supply chain: already in 2022, together with Casilli and our other logistics partners, we created a working group led by the energy transition consultant Ikigai Capital, aimed at
transform ourselves into a zero-emissions company by 2040. This is one of the first tangible results and we hope that this initiative can generate a positive flywheel effect also on future technological investments and on additional partnerships in terms of sustainability”.
“Collaborating with companies like CocaCola HBC Italia – says Francesco Casilli, CEO of the Nola-based company – gratifies us and repays us for the considerable efforts made to keep our company at high levels, not only in terms of modernization of vehicles and fleet, but also procedures, sustainability and certifications. Our warehouses also meet high quality and energy efficiency standards, just as the logistics processes are cutting-edge, designed to optimize and maximize the precision and reliability of our operations. We practically manage to be sustainable and high-performing to guarantee decarbonization and operability at the same time”.
"Our vehicles, including those that will be used in the project with Coca-Cola HBC Italia, are the best available on the market, from a technological point of view and in terms of environmental impact. The long-standing relationship with Coca-Cola HBC Italia is characterized by a deep affinity of values. We share a solid common vision on decarbonization, technological innovation and environmental responsibility, principles that guide us in our intent to provide advanced solutions for transport and logistics, which respect the environment and meet the needs of our valuable business partners".
Another important element of sustainability of this new collaboration is given by the centrality of the CCH CircularPET factory in Gaglianico (BI) in the routes involved by biofuel vehicles. The factory, recently inaugurated, is completely dedicated to the production of recycled plastic preforms necessary for bottling The Coca-Cola Company brand products in Italy.
Thanks to this new project with Casilli Enterprise, the plant becomes the protagonist of a sustainable supply chain concept, from the production of materials (processing of recycled PET completely based on energy purchased from renewable sources), up to the delivery of the finished product to the bottling factories and subsequently to customers.
In December 2023, Coca-Cola HBC was named the world's most sustainable beverage company by the 2023 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), a leading global sustainability benchmark. This marks the seventh time that Coca-Cola HBC has been ranked number one and the 13th consecutive year that it has been in the top three. Further demonstrating the company's strong supplier engagement, Coca-Cola HBC was included in CDP's 2023 Supplier Engagement Leaderboard in recognition of its commitment to measuring and reducing emissions across its value chain.
