Coca‑Cola Vietnam has launched the third year of its “Our bottles can live many lives” program in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Building on two years of success in Ho Chi Minh City, the expansion to Hanoi reflects Coca‑Cola’s long‑term commitment to its Packaging Strategy and efforts to support communities in collecting and recycling beverage packaging waste.
The program raises public awareness and encourages local communities – especially young people – to collect beverage containers for recycling, helping contribute to more sustainable development.
In 2023 and 2024, the initiative engaged a wide range of consumers, particularly youth, through partnerships with VECA, Duy Tân, BOTOL, and community support, contributing to the collection ecosystem where used cans and bottles can be recycled. Within the past two years, the work led by VECA and BOTOL has helped collect hundreds of thousands of cans and bottles in Vietnam so they can be recycled.
The launch event was held at Thuongmai University in Hanoi, attended by representatives from the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Vietnam National Union of Students, partners, and hundreds of students.
Ms. Bui Dang Duyen Mai, representative of Coca‑Cola Vietnam, said: “Expanding ‘Our bottles can live many lives’ to Hanoi demonstrates our commitment to helping reduce beverage packaging waste. With the support of our partners and the enthusiasm of young people, we hope the program will continue to achieve positive results in Vietnam.”
This year, the program is running at six universities and in residential areas in Hanoi, alongside existing collection points in Ho Chi Minh City. Activities will be powered by BOTOL’s reverse vending machines and GreenU’s recycling expertise as an environmental consultancy focused on plastic waste management.
Residents can bring used bottles and cans to collection points, earn points via the Zalo app, and redeem rewards. This simple process is expected to inspire young people to recycle and sort waste at the source.
Phung Cong Suong, Editor‑in‑Chief of Tien Phong newspaper, said: “This is the second year we have worked with Coca‑Cola Vietnam and universities to promote awareness and foster the habit of collecting and recycling. The goal is to help reduce plastic and aluminum waste, especially among students.”
“Our bottles can live many lives” is helping drive The Coca‑Cola Company’s global Packaging Strategy, focused on Design and Collection. By 2035, Coca‑Cola aims to collect and recycle 70%–75% of bottles and cans sold worldwide and use 35%–40% recycled content in packaging.
In Vietnam, Coca‑Cola is a founding member of Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam, a coalition of leading companies, recyclers, and government agencies accelerating packaging collection and recycling. Since 2022, Coca‑Cola has introduced 100% rPET Coca‑Cola bottles (excluding caps and labels) and added a “Recycle Me” message on all packaging in Vietnam to encourage collection and recycling.
