The comeback of the 1-litre cola bottle

At Coca-Cola in Deizisau, the first new 1-litre returnable glass bottles came off the production line at the beginning of July 2019.

At the converted production facility in Deizisau near Stuttgart, employees filled more than half a million 1-liter returnable glass bottles of Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in two production runs in June. The premium glass bottles in the 6-bottle crate from Deizisau are thus now available from retail outlets and beverage stores. Coca-Cola recently announced the comeback of the 1-litre returnable glass bottles, which had been replaced by PET returnable bottles in 1994.

Reusable bottle line converted for returnable glass bottles

“In recent weeks, we have converted our 1-litre PET returnable line in such a way that it also fills 1-litre returnable glass bottles. We have had some exhausting weeks. We are proud of what we have achieved,” says Thomas Sprecher, Operations Manager of Coca-Cola in Deizisau. With the start of production of the 1-litre returnable glass bottle, Workshop Manager Süleyman Kiral experienced a déjà-vu. “He was already around in the 1990s when glass bottles were filled – with one difference. Today, the large glass bottle is 132 grams lighter than it used to be.

Retro edition to celebrate Coca-Cola’s anniversary

The first 1-litre returnable glass bottles filled in Deizisau have a special look. They come with a retro look to mark the 90th anniversary of Coca-Cola being founded in Germany. Instead of the classic Coca-Cola logo, the labels of the special edition show  a short “Coke” on a red background – framed by white lines. The first Coca-Cola was bottled in Germany on 8 April 1929.

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Coca-Cola reports that in 2019 the company is investing around EUR 5 million in the reusable bottling plant in Deizisau. With this investment, the plant is implementing two major projects at the site this year: the conversion of the PET returnable line to make it suitable for 1-liter returnable glass bottles and the installation of a new bottle washer in the line for small returnable glass bottles.