Coca-Cola welcomed the MPs for East Kilbride (left) and Ochil and South Perthshire (right) to the site

Coca-Cola European Partners invests £2.3m in Scottish plant

The ‘significant investment’ at the site has funded the development of a new water treatment plant, as well as the modernisation of wider infrastructure at the factory, which replaces an older installation. The new plant will allow a more efficient water recovery system from the site’s four manufacturing lines, saving an estimated 9 million litres of water a year, and went active earlier this month.

It brings the total investment by CCEP at the site to £18 million.

John McCafferty, director of supply chain operations for Coca-Cola European Partners East Kilbride, said: “With a longstanding legacy of over 50 years in the region, we pride ourselves on being a truly local business here in East Kilbride and in Scotland as a whole. This latest investment demonstrates our continued commitment to the future of manufacturing in Scotland as well as local employment and skills development through our growing apprentice programme here on site.”

East Kilbride’s MSP in the Scottish parliament, Linda Fabiani, said: “I was delighted to welcome parliamentary colleagues to the factory, and have them hear about the strength of this long-established East Kilbride company and the environmental successes that they have achieved. No matter how many times I visit Coca-Cola I am impressed anew by the enthusiasm and teamwork shown by all the staff, from apprentices to management.”

And the MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow in Westminster, Dr Lisa Cameron, said that she was ‘delighted’ to visit a company that ‘contributes hugely to the local economy’.

“It was fascinating to see the new water treatment innovations that are being heralded in this constituency and to meet with long-serving staff and apprentices who contribute to a sustainable future for the company locally,” she said.

The investment forms part of CCEP’s ongoing commitment towards sustainable manufacturing in Scotland and a wider £56 million investment across its six manufacturing sites in Great Britain this year alone. East Kilbride employs over 150 people from the region, producing over 16 million cases of product a year. It was the first of CCEP’s factories to install an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) warehouse and is its only site to produce Appletiser.