Entering its third year, the Recycle Me program is designed to provide incentives, especially to consumers who live in Jakarta, Tangerang and Bekasi, to encourage community participation in recycling used plastic bottle packaging.

The program will run from Oct. 6 to Dec. 31, 2023, and consumers are invited to collect and send eight used PET plastic bottles from all Coca-Cola beverage products. All used plastic bottles collected will be sent via Grab delivery service to eight Mahija Parahita Nusantara collection centers available in the Jakarta, Bekasi and Tangerang areas.

PT Coca-Cola Indonesia director of public affairs, communications and sustainability Triyono Prijosoesilo said the company was on a mission to collect as many used bottles as possible to turn them into new bottles.

"In line with our mission, we are very pleased to be able to partner with a leading super app in Southeast Asia such as Grab, supporting our efforts to improve collection and recycling programs and interact more closely with consumers to give new life to PET plastic bottles. We see a huge opportunity in utilizing Grab's logistics network and infrastructure to support the realization of our goals,” he said, adding that the collaboration was in line with the “World Without Waste” vision to support a closed-loop circular economy in packaging management in Indonesia.

For every bottle recycled through the Recycle Me program, consumers have the opportunity to win prizes while playing an important role in giving new life to the bottles.

The first 20,000 consumers who participate in this program will have the opportunity to receive a shipping discount of up to Rp 30,000. In addition, consumers also have the potential to receive reward points that can be exchanged for credit, electricity tokens and e-wallets worth a maximum of Rp 15,000 via the OVO e-wallet.

Meanwhile, collected bottles will be processed into new plastic bottles through a recycling process at the Amandina Bumi Nusantara factory.

In June, Coca-Cola launched the 100 percent recycled PET (rPET) bottles — excluding caps and labels — to offer a sustainable and practical packaging option. Currently, one out of every three bottles of Coca-Cola products circulating on the Indonesian market is made from 100 percent rPET plastic, which is produced locally in Indonesia.

Grab Indonesia chief of public affairs Tirza Munusamy said Grab had set out to become carbon neutral and Zero Waste to Nature by 2040.

“We believe that preserving the environment and minimizing the impact of climate change will ensure long-term economic success for our partners and communities. Therefore, through a partnership with Coca-Cola, Yayasan Mahija Parahita Nusantara and Waste4Change, we actively support the promotion of recycling habits in Indonesia as our concrete step to achieve zero packaging waste in nature by 2040,” she said.

Suharji Gasali, vice chairman of Yayasan Mahija Parahita Nusantara and managing director of Amandina Bumi Nusantara, said the effort not only collected used plastic bottle packaging directly from consumers to the foundation’s collection partners, but also supports efforts to implement a closed-loop circular economy.

"Used PET plastic bottles that have been collected through this program will become raw materials which will then be sent by the Mahija Parahita Nusantara Foundation to the Amandina Bumi Nusantara recycling facility," he said.

Managing director of Waste4Change, Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano, said companies like Coca-Cola and Grab played an important role in leveraging the power of their brands and reach to increase consumer awareness about the importance of recycling and encourage behavioral change.

“We are optimistic that this year's 'Recycle Me' program will have a big impact in reducing plastic waste in Indonesia."

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