Coca-cola is under fire for allegedly stepping back from its previous promise to achieve 25% reusable packaging by 2030.
As per the Guardian, in 2022, the company pledged to ensure 25% of its beverages sales come from packaging that can be reused or refilled.
This includes glass and plastic bottles that customers can return or refill, as well as reusable containers for fountains and “Coca-Cola freestyle dispensers.”
The original pledge was removed from the company’s website sometimes after 20 November, shortly before this year’s global plastics summit.’
The company’s revised packaging goals now focus on using 35% to 40% recycled material in primary packaging (plastic, glass and aluminium), including recycled plastic use of 30% to 35% globally.
This replaces its earlier pledge to use 50% recycled material in packaging by 2030.
The current pledge also says the company will “help ensure the collection of 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually”.
Nearly 200 countries recently failed to reach a deal on reducing plastic production at a meeting in Busan, South Korea.
After the talks failed, nations advocating cuts renewed their call for legally binding reductions.
The campaigners are now urging companies like Coca-Cola to shift their focus to using reusable bottles instead of just recycling plastic because recycled plastic often still ends up polluting the environment.
