Ocean conservation organisation Oceana has said that Coca-Cola is merely ‘kicking the plastic bottle down the road and into the sea’ with its newly-announced environmental commitments.
Earlier this week, the soft drinks giant said that it was scaling back some of its commitments related to reusable and recycled packaging.
The company had originally aimed to achieve 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030 but has now set a revised goal of 35% to 40% by 2035. Similarly, its earlier commitment to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one sold by 2030 has been adjusted to a target of 70% to 75% annually.
‘Short-sighted and irresponsible’
“Coca-Cola’s decision to double down on single-use plastic – by killing its goals to reduce virgin plastic and to increase reusable packaging – is short-sighted, irresponsible, and worthy of widespread condemnation by its customers, its employees, its investors, and governments worried about the impact of plastics on our oceans and health,” commented Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Oceana.
“Coca-Cola’s new policy makes it likely that many more billions of single-use plastic bottles and cups will continue to flood into our waterways and seas. Oceana estimates that if Coca-Cola met its commitment to reach 25% reusable packaging by 2030 (up from its current share of 14%) the company could avoid producing the equivalent of over 100 billion 500ml single-use plastic bottles and cups and ensure that approximately 8.5 to 14.7 billion plastic bottles and cups could be prevented from reaching our waterways and seas.”
Coca-Cola commitments
Elsewhere, Coca-Cola has dropped its voluntary goal on agriculture, stating instead that it ‘seeks to continue initiatives and programs with suppliers and third-party stakeholders to support sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients’.
Other commitments, related to the volume of product sold in refillable/returnable glass or plastic bottles or in fountain dispensers, and reducing the use of virgin plastic derived from non-renewable sources by 2025, have similarly been scrapped.
In a statement, Coca-Cola said that it remains ‘committed to building long-term business resilience and earning our social license to operate through our evolved voluntary environmental goals. These challenges are complex and require us to drive more effective and efficient resource allocation and work collaboratively with partners to deliver lasting positive impact.’
“Coca-Cola’s investors and governments around the world should take notice and take steps to hold the company accountable,” added Littlejohn. Read more here and here.
