Washington, DC – Coca-Cola announced today that it is rolling out 100% recycled plastic bottles for several of its brands in select markets across the United States this year. In its announcement, Coke claims the changes will reduce the company’s new fossil fuel plastic by more than 20% in North American compared to 2018. Coca-Cola produces over 100 billion plastic bottles each year. Coke was recently named the world’s worst plastic polluter following global cleanups and brand audits for the third year in a row.
In response to today’s news, Greenpeace USA Senior Plastics Campaigner Kate Melges said:
“In 1990, Coca-Cola and Pepsi announced plans to sell their products in recycled plastic bottles. The Washington Post quoted Greenpeace as ‘unimpressed’ at the time, urging the companies to eliminate single-use plastics altogether. Thirty one years later, companies should not still be boasting about transitioning to recycled content. We remain unimpressed.
“While transitioning to recycled content helps to eliminate the need for some new fossil fuel plastic, it does not do nearly enough to end the cycle of plastic production and pollution. Since the 1970s, these consumer goods giants have joined with the fossil fuel industry to use recycling as justification to continue relying on polluting plastics. And the climate crisis has gotten worse, our oceans have grown more polluted, and the health of communities worldwide has deteriorated thanks to this profit model that puts the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries before everything else. If Coke wants to make real news, it should announce that it is finally ending its reliance on plastics altogether.”
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Contact: Perry Wheeler, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 301-675-8766
