Coca-Cola quietly abandons its 25% reusable packaging goal?
On December 3, the British newspaper The Guardian published an article titled "Coca-Cola is accused of quietly abandoning its 25% reusable packaging goal."
Coca-Cola has been accused of quietly abandoning its commitment to a 25% reusable packaging goal by 2030, with activists calling it a "greenwashing master."
Researchers previously found that the company is one of the world's most polluting brands in terms of plastic waste.
In February 2022, the company pledged to sell 25% of its beverages in refillable or recyclable glass or plastic bottles, or in refillable containers filled in beverage fountains or "Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispensers."
But just in time for the Global Plastics Treaty Summit in Busan, South Korea in November 2024, the company deleted the page on its website outlining this commitment, and there is no longer a goal for reusable packaging.
Instead, its packaging goal now says it will "target 35% to 40% recycled content (plastic, glass and aluminium) in primary packaging, including increasing the use of recycled plastic to 30% to 35% globally". Its previous goal pledged "50% recycled content in our packaging by 2030".
The current pledge also says the company will "help ensure 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans entering the market each year are collected".
When the goal was announced in 2022, the company's chief customer and commercial officer, Elaine Bowers Coventry, said: "Accelerating the use of reusable packaging provides added value for consumers and customers, while supporting our goal of a world without waste by collecting one bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030."
The original pledge was removed from the company's website sometime after November 20, 2024, when negotiations for a global plastics treaty begin. The company's new announcement includes no mention of its reusable pledge.
Nearly 200 countries failed to reach a deal to reduce plastic production at a meeting in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1. The week-long talks failed to resolve deep divisions between "ambitious" countries, which seek a globally binding agreement to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals, and "like-minded" countries, which want to focus on waste issues.
Activists are calling on companies like Coca-Cola to shift from recycling plastic targets to reusable bottle targets, because single-use items are the problem, and recycled single-use items still pollute the environment most of the time.
"Coca-Cola's latest move is a masterclass in greenwashing, throwing out previously announced reuse targets and choosing to dump more plastic into the planet that they can't even collect and recycle effectively. This only reinforces the company's reputation as the world's largest plastic polluter," said von Hernandez, global coordinator of the Break Free From Plastic campaign group. "If they can't even deliver on their own low-ball promises, how can they claim to be serious about addressing the global plastic crisis?"
The Guardian has contacted Coca-Cola for comment. It previously told the Guardian: "We care about the impact of every drink we sell and are committed to growing our business in the right way."
