Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE, Uxbridge, Middlesex / UK; www.cokecce.co.uk) – the third-largest independent bottler of global beverage giant Coca-Cola (Atlanta, Georgia / USA; www.thecoca-colacompany.com) – has announced two separate EUR 16m investments in its operations in France and the UK.

At its plant in Grigny / France, the investment went towards a new preform injection line that allows the site to produce its own bottle preforms without having to transport them from the factory of its former partner. The 1.5 l PET bottle preforms produced at the site are made from up to 50% recycled PET, supplied by CCE’s Infineo (Sainte-Marie La Blanche / France) recycling joint venture with APPE (Wrexham / UK; www.appepackaging.com). Coca-Cola has invested about EUR 54m in its Grigny plant since it was first founded in 1986. The company’s workforce in France comes to 2,600.

Across the Channel, in the UK, CCE is investing GBP 13m (about EUR 16m) in a new bottle production line at its facility in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The line is due to start up in September and will produce PET bottles in a range of different sizes at speeds of up to 40,000 bottles per hour. The investment at what the company says is Europe’s largest soft drinks plant also includes a new combined heat and power system that will cut the facility’s CO₂ emissions by 5.6% a year.

CCE said it plans to invest more than GBP 1m a week in its UK operations this year. The total of GBP 52m includes a GBP 3.5m injection into its plant in Morpeth, where CCE will install new production equipment for its glaceau smartwater bottled water, which is to be launched this summer.

Commenting on the Wakefield investment, CCE chief executive John Brock said, “Coca Cola Enterprises is a proud local business, with 97% of our products sold in Great Britain being made at our six factories here.” The company has invested GBP 100m in the facility since 2010. CCE employs about 4,000 people across the UK.