Zepto 🤝 Coca Cola: Return & Recycle

Nipa, 31 from Hyderabad, recently used Zepto. While placing the order she stumbled upon an option to ‘Return PET Bottles’ on her order checkout page. Curiosity led her to choose the option. Here’s what she unlocked:

The backstory

In November 2022, Coca-Cola and Zepto came together for a first-of-its-kind collaboration to contribute to Coca-Cola’s ‘World Without Waste’, sustainable packaging initiative. The innovative collaboration was designed to integrate the commitment to create a systemic change through a circular economy for packaging and reduce environmental impact through Zepto’s last mile network.

The ‘Return and Recycle’ initiative focuses on gathering PET bottles directly from the consumers and also helps in establishing an organized process of collecting PET bottles with 100% traceability, to ensure effective plastic waste management. Within its two-month pilot project, more than one ton of plastic waste was collected and sent for recycling. Not just that, more than 30% of Zepto customers opted to return PET bottles.

The initiative

While using the Zepto mobile app, a pop-up option enables the consumer to opt for handing over empty PET bottles of any brand to the delivery partner. The PET bottles are then sent to the Zepto collection store and finally recycled into valuable raw materials that are used in various industries.

Collection bins have been strategically deployed in Zepto’s delivery hubs across all major cities to ensure they are easily accessible by the delivery partners, providing a broader reach simultaneously.

How can you help?

It’s super simple. As a user, you just have to return any PET bottle you may have at home to our delivery partner when they come to your doorstep to deliver your order. As a protocol, every rider is trained to follow a simple process of collecting the bottles from the doorstep, bringing them back to the store, and disposing them in the bins allocated in each store. The process is designed in a way that does not impact Zepto’s promise of 10-minute delivery or last-mile unit economics.

Expanding scale

We have expanded the initiative in major cities, catering to over 200 stores in India across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, and Kolkata with collection bins placed across hundreds of Zepto’s delivery hubs. With your support, we are aiming to expand the initiative across the country.

Nipa did her bit by returning a few PET bottles with her first order. You could do that with all your orders, too! Be a hero and do your bit.

Learn more about this unique initiative and the progress it has achieved so far:

The Coca-Cola Company on LinkedIn: #zepto #worldwithoutwaste #sustainability #recycling #plastic…