Coke’s recycled plastic bottle scheme criticized as PR spin by green groups
Drinks giant’s proposals to reduce plastic waste are unambitious and vague, say some environmental groups. Coca-Cola’s plan to reduce the millions of plastic bottles that end in the world’s oceans every day has been criticized by environmental groups as unambitious “PR spin”. The world’s biggest drinks brand, estimated to produce more than 100bn plastic bottles every year, raised its 2020 target for the amount of recycled plastic used in its bottles from 40% to 50%. It also said it was considering testing an “on-the-go bottle recovery and reward programme”, although a spokeswoman said there were no details of how this might work or how big the trial would be. Figures obtained by the Guardian this month revealed that across the globe one million plastic bottles are bought by consumers every minute – roughly 20,000 a second. The number will jump another 20% by 2021, with annual sales rising to more than half a trillion a year, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change. Some environmental groups criticized Coca-Cola’s proposal saying they were too vague and pointing out that smaller drinks companies already have more ambitious targets. Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “They’re doing nothing to genuinely challenge the culture of throwaway single-use plastic bottles, and what little action they’re taking is restricted to Britain, when oceans plastic is a global issue.” She said Coke was “still part of the problem not part of the solution”. “They should be pushing for an industry-wide deposit return scheme so far fewer plastic bottles end up in our oceans, and should get far more reusable bottles on to the shelves. This company has a history of making green announcements that sound good but deliver little. Coke’s PR spin on plastic is not ‘the real thing’.” Mike Childs, head of policy and research at Friends of the Earth, said: “If any multi-national can lead on this, surely Coca-Cola can, but where is the detail?” He said the UK was drowning in plastic with drinks bottles “blighting streets, hedges, rivers and seas and that’s just the visual cost, the damage to wildlife is the true cost.” “Consumers are fed-up of inaction and statements, so Coca-Cola should get on with it and make a firm commitment to do the right thing and lead the pack. The message to industry has to be: we don’t need to buy your drinks, please aim for 100% recyclable bottles, made from recycled plastic.”
Read More:
Posted by admin
on Jul 13 2017. Filed under News at Now.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Loading ...