Coca-Cola invests big in Lavit’s carbon, plastic and sugar reduction self-pour technology

15 Dec 2020 --- Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) is investing in personalized drinks dispensing technology called Lavit as part of the company’s efforts to reduce single-use packaging. 

Lavit allows consumers to customize cold beverages by choosing levels of carbonation and flavor.

CCEP says the investment will form part of an exploration into new technologies that eliminate packaging waste and reduce its carbon footprint while providing consumers new beverage options. 

“CCEP’s partnership with Lavit is a step on its journey to reduce packaging where it can. Our aim is to reimagine the very idea of ‘drinks-on-demand,’ and to provide new dispensed delivery solutions and services that offer the same choice, quality and convenience and give people new experiences that are also sustainable for the planet,” a CCEP spokesperson tells PackagingInsights.

“Lavit is an ambitious business with an advanced, commercialized dispensing technology and system,” says Graham Stokhuyzen, vice president of new business development at CCEP. 

“This will also enable us to reduce our use of single-use packaging.”

Lavit’s choice technology 
Lavit’s creators say their patented drink machine was born from the need to answer the US’ single-use plastic problem and its “addiction to sugary drinks.”

Lavit functions on single-use aluminum flavor capsules. Consumers insert the capsules into the machine before selecting a “bubbles” level for carbonation and a portion option for beverage size. 

All of its more than 25 flavor options are either low on or free from sugar. 

Lavit allows consumers to customize the flavors and carbonation of their fizzy drinks.Lavit has also partnered with ice tea producer Arizona and organic beverage retailer Juice Press to add its flavors to the machine’s portfolio. 

Lavit is a self-sanitizing machine, using an automatic daily ozonation process to kill bacteria within its parts. 

The aluminum capsules are 100 percent recyclable and, by being 99 percent lighter than cans, drastically reducing emissions and costs associated with delivery, says the company.

Lavit will use the CCEP investment to gather research on consumer demands and develop its technology. 

“This partnership will enable us to scale more quickly, combining CCEP’s industry experience and commercial expertise with Lavit’s innovative technology,” says John Uhlein, CEO of Lavit.

Coca-Cola says “This is Forward”
CCEP’s new partnership with Lavit comes as part of the corporation’s “This is Forward” campaign to move toward environmental sustainability. 

It follows the company’s recent acquisition of a 25 percent stake in Innovative Tap Solutions (ITS), a start-up that is putting automatic beer dispensers into bars. 

While trialing possible alternatives to throwaway packaging, CCEP continues to press forward with its other recycling and reduction programs. 

The campaign pledges that by 2025, Coca-Cola will collect a can for every one it sells and ensure 100 percent of its packaging is fully recyclable. 

By 2023, it aims to ensure a minimum of 50 percent of its PET bottles will come from recycled content, accelerating towards zero virgin oil-based PET in its PET bottles within a decade. 

CCEP recently announced ambitions to become a net-zero carbon business by 2040 in alignment with the 1.5˚C climate change-limiting pathway and the Paris Climate Agreement.

By Louis Gore-Langton