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Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages launches PET-free Rath Yatra drive with Puri Municipality and NGOs
MUMBAI: In a city where devotion spills into the streets each year, this time the bottles won’t. Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) in partnership with Puri Municipality and several civic bodies has flagged off the ‘Used PET Bottle-Free Rath Yatra 2025’ initiative to tackle plastic waste during the iconic annual chariot festival in Puri, Odisha.
The campaign was formally unveiled on 16 June in the presence of Hon’ble deputy chief minister of Odisha Parida; Minister of Housing and Urban Development Krushna Chandra Mahapatra; and other senior officials including Puri Municipality executive officer Satyabrata Sahu (ACS) and Abhimanyu Behera.
Targeting the swelling crowds expected between June 27 and July 5, the effort builds on the momentum of last year’s drive, aiming to significantly reduce plastic litter with city-wide collection and public engagement. The programme will deploy more than 180 trained volunteers and install 200 PET collection bins across high-footfall areas like Swargadwar Beach, Puri Railway Station, and Badasankha.
“At HCCB, we believe real change happens when businesses, communities, and the government come together to work towards one goal. The Rath Yatra brings together people from all over the country, and with that comes a shared responsibility to care for the city that hosts them. Through our ‘Green Sweep’ initiative this year, we will be working closely with civic partners to set up strategic collection points, deploy trained volunteers, and introduce creative engagement tools like street plays to raise awareness. We’re proud to be part of this effort alongside Anandana, The Coca-Cola India Foundation, the Odisha government and aim to make the Puri Rath Yatra free of used PET bottles”, said HCCB chief public affairs and sustainability officer Himanshu Priyadarshi.
The project is being executed in collaboration with Anandana (The Coca-Cola India Foundation), the Odisha Development Management Programme (ODMP), and the Y4D Foundation. The municipal partnership includes awareness-building drives like plogging activities and a PET collection rally held earlier this month. These efforts aim to educate locals and tourists on responsible PET disposal and segregation.
“Managing plastic waste during high-footfall events like the Rath Yatra in Puri is a shared responsibility and requires collective action. Through PET collection points, volunteer-led engagement, and awareness outreach, we are humbled to play a role in making responsible disposal easier and more accessible for everyone attending”, said Coca-Cola India and southwest Asia VP, public affairs, communications, sustainability Devyani R L Rana.
The initiative will also feature live street plays and help desks manned by trained vendors to ensure correct usage of the disposal infrastructure, especially in temple zones and beach areas. Volunteers will double as on-ground educators, encouraging visitors to sort their used bottles correctly into designated PET bins.
The campaign officially flags off on 26 June, a day before the main festival begins, and underscores a rare feat—blending religious fervour with environmental action. If successful, it may just inspire more pilgrimages to go plastic-free.
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UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
