Summertime is Openair time: Coca-Cola employees engaged in volunteer work

Did you know that a recycled PET bottle (0.5 l) saves 0.696 megajoules of energy?

For this amount of energy, you could send about 180 messages via WhatsApp or spend 26 seconds under a hot shower. Equipped with such comparisons, over 40 Coca-Cola volunteers highlighted the value of correct waste separation and that of an optimized circular economy for our environment at the two strongholds of the Swiss Openair scene, in St. Gallen and Frauenfeld.

In Switzerland, the rate of raw materials that are reintroduced into the material cycle is currently at 93% for glass, at 91% for aluminum and at 83% for PET. We see potential for improvement in PET recycling, especially at busy locations, such as music festivals.

As a company, we take responsibility for upholding Coca-Cola’s worldwide vision of “A World without Waste” in everything we do. Being a sponsor of the top 30 Swiss festivals this summer, we want to go the extra mile for the environment. As part of a partnership-based campaign between The Coca-Cola Company Switzerland and Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland, over 40 employees switched their computers for a pair of waste tongs for a day and volunteered together for a good cause. Thanks to our valuable partnership with IGSU (Interest Group for a Clean Environment), our volunteers were supported by experienced ambassadors with great dedication.

From June 27 to 30, 2024, our volunteers were part of Openair St. Gallen for the first time and they were committed to ensuring that sustainability, recycling and environmental protection are not just theoretical – especially in the midst of all the festival hustle and bustle. In St. Gallen, the motto was: committing to taking care of your own waste! By signing their name on the Coca-Cola billboard, festivalgoers symbolically gave their word to properly sort their waste. In return, they got the chance to create their individual refreshment from the Coca-Cola freestyle machine. This campaign was supported by Coca-Cola partner Kooky, who contributed to a closed material cycle by providing reusable cups.

Two weeks later, from July 11 to 13, 2024, CCHBC Volunteers were once again on the move – like the previous year, returning to Frauenfeld, home to Europe’s biggest Hip-Hop Openair. At several locations along the way from the train station to the festival’s main entrance, they were taught first hand by the experts at IGSU how to effectively and proactively engage with people – all in the interest of sustainability. Furthermore, on the first two days of the festival, a Coca-Cola Zero sampling campaign was carried out to spark up a conversation with festival visitors.

The moody weather situation was not able to cloud our volunteers’ enthusiasm as they dedicated themselves to the cause of a cleaner world.