Among a bouquet of interesting links offered by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
conuly was one on the economics behind why soda cans in Hawaii are slightly differently shaped from soda cans in other parts of the United States. The video is here, but it comes down to the fact that Hawaii is an island, so most of the inputs for manufacturing have to be shipped there; that, and the fact that because soda is mainly water, it's most economical, in terms of shipping cost, to make it very close to its market--rather than, say, ship it from across the country (easier to mix up the sugar, water, CO2, and flavors close to hand).
Well... those same factors explain in part why Leticia has its own Coca-Cola bottling plant--the world's smallest, so I'm told. Leticia is much like an island: most things have to be brought into the region ... which is not easy: there are two tiny airports (one in Leticia and one across the border in Tabatinga, Brazil), and other than that... the river. Things do not travel over land to Leticia.
(I'm not entirely sure about the claim of being the smallest. There might be smaller ones, these days. The Washington Post article I found confirming the Leticia plant's status as smallest is 24 years old. At that time Leticia's population was half what it is now.)
The plant is very small, though! It has pretty curved roofs, and right now there are murals on the outer walls showing arms and hands fistbumping each other, arms of different colors, a nod toward racial diversity. Did I think to take pictures of these? I did not. But here's a version of the image from their Facebook page--you can see how the arms are meant to imitate the Coke swoosh:
And this still from a video shows you the roofs (upper right)
They also bottle local soft drinks, plus potable water (...). The San Juan water bottle that I saved from my first trip was bottled there. I used it (refilling it) all through my trip this time, but alas had to give it up at the airport because I didn't have it empty when it needed to be.
conuly was one on the economics behind why soda cans in Hawaii are slightly differently shaped from soda cans in other parts of the United States. The video is here, but it comes down to the fact that Hawaii is an island, so most of the inputs for manufacturing have to be shipped there; that, and the fact that because soda is mainly water, it's most economical, in terms of shipping cost, to make it very close to its market--rather than, say, ship it from across the country (easier to mix up the sugar, water, CO2, and flavors close to hand).Well... those same factors explain in part why Leticia has its own Coca-Cola bottling plant--the world's smallest, so I'm told. Leticia is much like an island: most things have to be brought into the region ... which is not easy: there are two tiny airports (one in Leticia and one across the border in Tabatinga, Brazil), and other than that... the river. Things do not travel over land to Leticia.
(I'm not entirely sure about the claim of being the smallest. There might be smaller ones, these days. The Washington Post article I found confirming the Leticia plant's status as smallest is 24 years old. At that time Leticia's population was half what it is now.)
The plant is very small, though! It has pretty curved roofs, and right now there are murals on the outer walls showing arms and hands fistbumping each other, arms of different colors, a nod toward racial diversity. Did I think to take pictures of these? I did not. But here's a version of the image from their Facebook page--you can see how the arms are meant to imitate the Coke swoosh:
And this still from a video shows you the roofs (upper right)
They also bottle local soft drinks, plus potable water (...). The San Juan water bottle that I saved from my first trip was bottled there. I used it (refilling it) all through my trip this time, but alas had to give it up at the airport because I didn't have it empty when it needed to be.
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