Coca-Cola invests in packaging and filling lines at Wakefield site

CCE’s Wakefield plant is the largest soft-drink facility in Europe and £240m has been invested in the site since it was opened in 1989. As well as the new pre-form facility, CCE is planning to open a new canning line by the end of the third quarter of next year.

Pete Smith, quality, safety and environment manager at the Wakefield site, said there had been significant growth in demand for cans that justified installing a new line. “We’re reacting to consumers and the can is seen as a flexible, take-home product and a lot of drinks are sold via multipacks.”

CCE has invested almost £6m in the new pre-form facility for PET bottles that it hopes will eliminate some 135,000 miles of deliveries and 400 tonnes of CO2 a year.

A first line was unveiled on Friday by local MP and children’s secretary Ed Balls and can produce 193 million pre-forms a year. The second line, which is almost completed, will increase that figure to 445 million.

Stephen Moorhouse, CCE vice president and general manager for European supply chain, said the Wakefield plant is the company’s most energy efficient and the first to house a pre-form area.

“The pre-form plant will help remove transportation from UK roads, reduce carbon emissions and help the site work even more efficiently,” he said.

The pre-form lines will eventually be able to create pre-forms with up to 30% recycled material. Smith said CCE was examining the situation with regards to including more recycled material, but said it was well on the way to meeting the 20% target for next year.

“It’s about making sure the quality is right, and at the moment some of the technologies are potentially not clean enough for us,” he said.

Coca-Cola Wakefield is located next door to a Rexam production plant that supplies cans directly to the facility.

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