STATEMENT: Coca-Cola’s commitment to plastic reduction fizzles out

WASHINGTON — Coca-Cola announced last week that it has “updated” its voluntary environmental goals. The beverage company’s new goals have almost completely supplanted its 2022 commitment to use refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles – or refillable containers at fountains and dispensers – for at least 25% of global beverage sales across its entire brand portfolio by 2030. Coke says it “intends to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists.” 

Coca-Cola, the brand responsible for more plastic pollution worldwide than any other company, says its new goals for plastic reduction are to:

• Aim to use 35% to 40% recycled material in primary packaging (plastic, glass and aluminum), including increasing recycled plastic use to 30% to 35% globally.
• Help ensure the collection of 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually.

In response, Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Beyond Plastic Campaign Director Celeste Meiffren-Swango released this statement:

“It turns out that Coca-Cola’s commitment to refillable and returnable containers wasn’t The Real Thing. Coke turning its back on a policy that could have significantly reduced single-use plastics and their impact on the environment is a big disappointment. You’d hope that the world’s top corporate plastic polluter would take more responsibility for its contribution to this problem.

“Instead, Coca-Cola’s self-proclaimed “evolution” on plastics is actually a regression to an outdated reliance on recycling. Studies repeatedly show that less than 10% of plastic ends up being recycled. 

“The real solution to the problem of plastic pollution is to produce and use less plastic– something a shift to refillable bottles can help achieve. The leadership at Coca-Cola should go back to the drawing board and set goals that will actually solve the problem.”