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8 August 2019: Coca-Cola Ireland has announced that 400 native Oak and Birch trees will be commissioned by the Native Woodland Trust at Grace Dieu in Waterford following Coca-Cola’s highly successful Melodic Wood installation at last weekend’s All Together Now music and arts festival.

The Coca-Cola Melodic Wood took the form of a unique area where revellers could chill out and listen to music specially curated by electronic Irish duo Prizm, while enjoying an incredible light show that illuminated the surrounding woodland.

The area acted as a recycling hub to which festival goers were invited to bring their empty cans to be pressed into stunning leaves that were then used to populate the Melodic Wood’s eight trees which were all created from recycled materials.

For every leaf that was pressed, Coca-Cola has made a donation to the Native Woodland Trust to help commission 400 native Oak and Birch trees to the value of €10,000 in the nearby area of Grace Dieu, Waterford City.

The Melodic Wood is part of Coca-Cola’s wider World Without Waste strategy to collect and recycle the equivalent of every can or bottle that they sell by 2030. This is a major plan that focuses on the entire packaging life cycle from how bottles and cans are produced and made to how they are recycled and repurposed.

The Native Woodland Trust is the only environmental organisation in Ireland with a focus on saving the last of Ireland's Ancient Woodlands, now down to as little as 0.1% of what originally existed. The Trust is also the only Irish environmental organisation which has raised the funding to acquire and save some of these woodlands while also planting thousands of trees every year, creating new native woodlands and donating hundreds of thousands of trees to schools and community groups around Ireland. The Trust now manages 11 woodlands and nature reserves across Ireland, from Donegal to Waterford.

Managing Director of Coca-Cola Ireland, Petre Șandru said “We are delighted with the success of the Melodic Wood at All Together Now and want to thank all those festival-goers who visited the wood and donated their cans for the installation.

“Coca-Cola wants to create a world without waste and through activations such as Melodic Wood we want to encourage a culture of recycling among our consumers. We also want to thank the organisers of All Together Now and recognise their commitment to delivering a more sustainable festival for everyone to enjoy.”

Jim Lawlor, Chief Executive of the Native Woodland Trust said “We cannot stress enough the importance of tree conservation and renewal in Ireland. We are really pleased with this contribution by Coca-Cola who through the Melodic Wood have commissioned 400 trees, consisting of Oak and Birch with seeds collected locally from the site they will be planted in. This will have a really positive impact and we hope it inspires others to undertake similar initiatives.”

You can watch the Melodic Wood’s All Together Now Journey and join the conversation using #WorldWithoutWaste.