Water & Water Stewardship

Water & Water Stewardship

Water is the most important raw material in the beverage production and a necessary basis for all our activities. In order to reduce the consumption of this valuable resource, we continuously implement new technologies. We can only grow sustainably if we ensure that local water supplies remain plentiful and its quality stays intact.


Water as a precious foundation

Most of the drinks sold by Coca-Cola HBC in Austria are produced locally, same as our traditional Römerquelle brand which is bottled directly at the source in Edelstal. We use the valuable water from our wells exclusively for our mineral water products. Our mineral water resources are a valuable commodity, the protection of which we pay special attention to.

We manage this as gently as possible and in accordance with the official maximum withdrawal quantities, which are based on the results of extensive tests. The mineral water deposit is not connected to the lower water layers. The groundwater is therefore not negatively affected. It also ensures that the rights of others, e.g. in agriculture, be preserved.


Bottling of Römerquelle returnable glass bottles Bottling of Römerquelle returnable glass bottles

When it comes to our reusable glass products, we make sure that our water use is efficient.

Efficient water usage

Water is not only required for our products themselves, but also for many manufacturing steps, especially for cleaning, and is therefore relevant for our entire production process. We currently consume 1.58 liters of water per liter of finished drink and want to further optimize consumption over the next few years.

Our Römerquelle mineral water is bottled at high speed - 12.5 bottles per second to be exact - since 2016. Our glass line is one of the fastest in the Coca-Cola HBC Group and works extremely energy efficient. Our two bottle washing machines not only reduce our freshwater consumption per bottle but also wash over 100,000 bottles per hour. Further, controlled improvements in process cleaning were achieved through a more efficient design of the cleaning steps. Since 2021, we have been able to save an additional 12.5 million liters of water by optimizing the production process.

Bottle washers Bottle washers
1.58

litres water consumption per litre
of drink produced

12.5

millions of liters of additional water saved every year through optimized production processes since 2021