Coca-Cola’s New ‘Lift Up’ Packaging and Sicilian Bottling Revamp Signal a Massive Shift in Soda Sustainability

Coca-Cola’s European bottling network is in the middle of one of its biggest packaging shake-ups in years — and most shoppers will first notice it in the way they carry home a six‑pack.

In the last few weeks, Coca-Cola HBC (the company’s major bottling partner in Europe) and its Sicilian bottler Sibeg have rolled out innovations that swap plastic shrink wrap and heavy film for fiber‑based handles, recycled plastics, and ultra‑efficient bottling lines. Together, these moves are designed to cut hundreds of tons of plastic and sharply reduce energy and water use — while keeping the familiar Coke, Fanta, and Sprite brands firmly in consumers’ hands. ^[1]

Business outlet TheStreet has already described the change as a “massive” shift to paper and cardboard packaging across Coke’s 1.5‑liter multipacks, highlighting expected savings of roughly 220 tons of plastic a year once the transition is complete. ^[2] And new coverage from Yahoo News, The Cool Down, industry trade press, and pulp‑and‑paper and packaging magazines has pushed the story into the mainstream in the days around 7 December 2025. ^[3]

Below is a detailed look at what’s changing, why it matters, and what to watch next for Coca-Cola, retailers, and regulators.

A first-of-its-kind alternative to plastic shrink wrap

At the heart of the packaging story is “Lift Up”, a fully recyclable cardboard handle and carrier designed to replace the plastic shrink wrap that usually holds together 1.5‑liter soda multipacks.

According to DS Smith, the paper and packaging company that developed the system with Coca-Cola HBC Austria and machinery maker Krones, Lift Up is: ^[4]

A corrugated cardboard handle that clips around 1.5‑liter PET bottles in place of plastic film
100% recyclable, designed so that the whole carrier and handle can go straight into paper recycling streams
Built around a soft, ergonomic grip, so shoppers can comfortably carry heavy six‑packs
Compatible with multiple bottle sizes and formats, not just a single SKU

Trials began in Austrian supermarkets in 2023, and Lift Up has now been widely highlighted again as Coca-Cola’s “first-of-its-kind alternative” to traditional shrink wrap on these products. Recent consumer‑facing reports from Yahoo (syndicated from climate site The Cool Down) and specialist trade titles emphasize that the handle and the surrounding kraft-paper packaging together are expected to remove roughly 200 metric tons of plastic a year from Coca-Cola HBC Austria’s supply chain. ^[5]

From a practical shopper perspective, the six‑packs will still look and feel familiar: bottles are grouped in cardboard rather than film, and you pick them up by a rigid handle instead of grabbing a floppy bundle of plastic.

How far does the plastic reduction go?

Different outlets quote slightly different numbers — some say “around 200 tonnes,” others “about 220 tons” — but they all point in the same direction: hundreds of tons of plastic dropped every year in just one country. ^[6]

Here’s what’s driving those savings:

Handles instead of rings and shrink wrap
The cardboard Lift Up handle replaces both plastic carrier rings and the wider plastic film that used to wrap the bottles. Every six‑pack now uses fiber instead of fossil‑fuel‑based plastic.
Thinner, smarter materials
DS Smith says the handle and surrounding board were designed using its “Circular Design Metrics” framework, which explicitly minimizes the amount of material used while maintaining strength and shelf impact. ^[7]
Lower carbon footprint in production and logistics
Sustainability Magazine reports that switching to Lift Up reduces the overall carbon footprint of both the packaging itself and the manufacturing line that applies it, thanks to lighter materials and more efficient handling. ^[8]

Coca-Cola HBC’s own sustainability leadership is framing Lift Up as the first packaging solution of its kind for 1.5‑liter multipacks of Coca‑Cola, Fanta, and Sprite, and as a key lever for hitting the bottler’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040. ^[9]

Why the numbers matter

At first glance, 200–220 tons of plastic a year may sound modest for a company that sells billions of bottles annually. But it is important for three reasons:

It targets some of the most problematic plastic
Shrink wrap and flexible plastic films are harder to recycle than rigid PET bottles and often end up in landfills or as litter. Tackling this category punches above its weight in terms of pollution reduction.
It’s a blueprint, not a one-off
If similar cardboard‑based solutions are rolled out across more of Coca-Cola HBC’s 28–29 markets, annual plastic savings could easily climb from the hundreds of tons into the low thousands — even with conservative assumptions about sales volumes and adoption. (The company hasn’t published a global figure yet; this is a directional estimate based on Austria’s data.)
It signals a strategic pivot
Coca-Cola has been named the world’s worst branded plastic polluter for several consecutive years, largely due to the tens of billions of single‑use bottles it sells annually. ^[10] Shifting away from plastic heavy secondary packaging is one of the clearest levers it can pull quickly while longer‑term systems (like refill and reuse) scale up.

TheStreet’s “massive change”: why investors care

While packaging trade journals have followed Lift Up since its 2023 pilot phase, the story jumped into mainstream business media this week when TheStreet characterized Coca-Cola HBC’s adoption of paper‑and‑cardboard packaging for 1.5‑liter multipacks as a “massive change” to its soda brands, noting expected savings of around 220 tons of plastic a year as plastic wrapping and handles are phased out. ^[11]

From an investor’s standpoint, this matters because:

Regulatory risk is rising
The EU is tightening rules around single‑use plastics and packaging waste, and global plastics treaty talks are increasingly focused on capping virgin plastic production, not just improving recycling. ^[12]
Early moves away from fossil‑fuel plastic help Coca-Cola and its bottlers get ahead of impending regulation.
Retailers are also under pressure
Large supermarket chains are setting their own targets to eliminate “problem plastics.” Suppliers that can show ready‑to‑deploy alternatives will have an easier time maintaining shelf space.
Consumer sentiment influences brand value
Younger consumers, in particular, increasingly view plastic pollution as a reason to switch brands. A visible, tactile change — like a cardboard handle replacing a crinkly plastic wrap — is a signal Coca-Cola can point to in marketing, ESG reports, and negotiations with governments.

In other words, the shift is not just about grams of plastic; it’s about future‑proofing the business in a world that is clearly moving toward stricter rules on packaging and waste.

Inside the Sicilian plant leading Coke’s bottling transformation

While Austria showcases the fiber‑based side of Coca-Cola’s packaging pivot, a second story is unfolding more quietly in Catania, Sicily.

Sibeg Srl, Coca-Cola’s official bottler on the island, has just installed its first-ever complete aseptic PET line with packaging specialist Sidel — and the upgrade is as much about sustainability as it is about production capacity. ^[13]

Key features of the new Sibeg line

According to Sidel and European beverage trade press, the new setup includes: ^[14]

An 18,000 bottles‑per‑hour aseptic PET line that handles sensitive beverages like teas and energy drinks, bringing production in‑house instead of relying on external co‑packers.
Aseptic Combi Predis™ technology, which sterilizes preforms with a hydrogen‑peroxide mist before blow‑molding and filling, dramatically cutting water and chemical usage while maintaining product safety and shelf life.
100% rPET bottles, enabling Sibeg to shift more volume into recycled plastic and support a circular economy model.
The EvoFilm Stretch packer, which replaces traditional heat‑intensive shrink tunnels with cool‑temperature stretch wrapping. This switch can reduce plastic film use by up to 60% and energy consumption by as much as 90%, cutting film weight from roughly 26 grams to about 6 grams per pack and slashing electricity demand.
A digital tool called Evo‑ON Flex, which guides operators through bottle changeovers and minimizes downtime, helping the plant run more efficiently.

Sibeg’s leadership says the project helps the company expand its product portfolio, cut pollution linked to truck transport from northern Italy, and support its goal to reach zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and full carbon neutrality by 2032. ^[15]

The Cool Down’s coverage highlights the local benefits: quieter operations, fewer trucks on the road, and less plastic waste in surrounding communities. ^[16]

How big is the environmental impact, really?

To understand the significance of Coca-Cola HBC’s moves, it helps to put them in global context.

Humanity now produces around 430 million tons of plastic each year, much of it destined for single‑use applications like packaging. ^[17]
Without strong policy changes, plastic production and plastic waste are expected to roughly triple by 2060, according to the UN and OECD. ^[18]

Against numbers that large, a few hundred tons of shrink wrap per year can sound trivial. But there are three reasons not to dismiss Coke’s packaging and bottling changes as green window dressing:

They attack plastics that are hardest to recycle
Bottles made from PET have at least some recycling infrastructure in many markets. Thin films, rings, and multi‑material shrink wraps do not. Eliminating them outright can be more effective than hoping recycling systems catch up.
They are scalable and repeatable
Both Lift Up and the EvoFilm Stretch system are modular technologies: once they’ve proven themselves in Austria or Sicily, they can be exported to other Coca-Cola HBC plants and even to rival beverage companies looking for off‑the‑shelf solutions.
They dovetail with system‑wide net‑zero plans
Coca-Cola HBC has publicly committed to net zero across its value chain by 2040, backed by science‑based targets that call for a 90% cut in direct (Scope 1 and 2) emissions and major reductions in Scope 3. ^[19] Packaging and plant upgrades like these are the tangible projects that will either make or break those pledges.

None of this makes Coca-Cola a sustainability saint overnight. Environmental groups still argue that the true solution lies in selling less single‑use packaging overall through refill, reuse, and deposit‑return systems. But it does mean that one of the world’s most scrutinized plastic producers is finally deploying changes that have clear, measurable impacts — and that other beverage brands can copy.

What to watch next (from December 2025 onward)

As of early December 2025, several questions will determine how transformative these changes really are:

1. How fast will Lift Up expand beyond Austria?

So far, the cardboard handle and wrap system is confirmed in Austria and heavily promoted there. Sustainability and packaging outlets frame it as a solution that can be adapted to other bottle sizes and markets, but Coca-Cola HBC has not yet announced a full European rollout schedule. ^[20]

Key indicators to watch:

Announcements of Lift Up trials or launches in other Coca-Cola HBC territories (Central and Eastern Europe, Italy, Switzerland, etc.)
Retailer‑specific deals, where major supermarket chains commit to switching all Coke 1.5‑liter multipacks to cardboard handles in their stores
Whether other bottlers in Coca-Cola’s global system (outside HBC) adopt the same or similar packaging

2. Will Sibeg become a global test bed?

Sibeg’s leadership has openly stated that it wants the Sicilian plant to act as a “gazelle” innovation hub and global test site for Coca-Cola’s business units. ^[21]

In practice, that could mean:

More product launches that debut in Sicily using 100% rPET and aseptic technology before rolling out elsewhere
Further experiments combining stretch‑wrap technology with cardboard systems or reusable crates
Data from the EvoFilm Stretch system being used to justify similar upgrades at other plants where shrink tunnels still dominate

If those experiments demonstrate strong returns — lower energy bills, fewer materials, and smoother operations — it makes a commercial case for rolling them out widely.

3. How will regulators and global treaty talks respond?

The timing of Coca-Cola’s packaging shift is no accident. Governments are advancing:

National and regional packaging and packaging‑waste regulations (such as the EU’s PPWR)
Negotiations for a global plastics treaty, where many countries are pushing for caps on virgin plastic production and mandatory reduction targets. ^[22]

If policymakers see big consumer brands successfully transitioning away from problematic plastics while maintaining profitability, they may feel more confident setting ambitious binding targets. In that sense, Coca-Cola’s experiments in Austria and Sicily double as political proof‑of‑concepts.

4. Will consumers reward (or punish) the changes?

Finally, there is the question of shopper behavior:

Do people like the new cardboard handles, or do they find them awkward compared with shrink‑wrapped packs?
Are there price changes linked to the new materials or bottling technologies — and how sensitive are consumers to them?
Does visible packaging change translate into brand loyalty or positive sentiment, especially among younger, climate‑conscious buyers?

Coca-Cola and its bottling partners will be watching sales data, customer feedback, and social media reactions very closely as the 2025 holiday season and early 2026 play out.

Bottom line

As of 7 December 2025, Coca-Cola’s European bottlers are doing more than tweaking labels or adding another limited‑edition flavor. They’re gradually rewiring how some of the world’s best‑known soft drinks are packaged, bottled, and shipped, starting with:

Lift Up cardboard handles and wraps that replace shrink wrap on 1.5‑liter multipacks and cut around 200–220 tons of plastic a year in Austria alone.
A high‑efficiency aseptic PET line in Sicily, running on 100% recycled PET bottles and stretch‑wrap technology that slashes both plastic use and energy consumption.
A broader strategy aimed at net‑zero emissions by 2040 for Coca-Cola HBC and 2030/2032 milestones for Sibeg’s local operations.

For now, these changes will be most visible to shoppers in Austrian supermarkets and on Sicilian store shelves. But the technologies behind them are built to scale — and if they do, the way we carry home a simple six‑pack of soda could end up being one of the clearest signs that the global plastics era is finally starting to bend.