Ahead of the annual meeting of global leaders and influencers in Davos, Switzerland next week, Coca Cola today (19 January) became the latest company to make an announcement on plastics saying it is to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030.
And, the soft drinks company pledged to “continue to focus on developing 100-percent recyclable packaging and reducing the amount of plastic in its bottles”.
Recycling box in Atlanta, USA
The announcements came from the company’s president, James Quincey, who will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Unveiling the company’s “World Without Waste” vision, Mr Quincey said this is the next step “in a broader strategy to grow with conscience by doing business the right way, not just the easy way”.
2007
However, today’s Coca Cola plan comes 11 years after the company first announced it had set a 100% recycled target for its American market which it is unclear if it has been met. In 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story) the company made “a major announcement in the USA” setting itself a target to recycle or re-use 100% of its plastic bottles in the American market.
Nature
The company today commented that it had announced in 2016 that it was the first Fortune 500 company “to give back to nature and communities an estimated 115 percent of the water used to make its drinks. The company and its bottling partners achieved the target five years ahead of schedule.”
And, Coca-Cola claimed “an industry-first goal” to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030.
The company and its global network of bottling partners “will tackle the ambitious goal, which is part of a holistic plan called World Without Waste, through a renewed focus on the entire packaging lifecycle – from how bottles and cans are designed and made, to how they’re recycled and repurposed.”
“Consumers around the world care about our planet. They want and expect companies like ours to be leaders and help make a litter-free world possible,” said Mr Quincey. “Through our ‘World Without Waste’ vision, we are investing in our planet and in in our packaging to help make the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past.
However, Mr Quincey, also remarked that there is a need for packaging. In a blog, he wrote that plastic bottles and packaging can “do good”.
Packaging
He wrote: “Yet it’s tempting to romanticize a world without packaging. To assume that if we get rid of plastic bottles and cans that life will be better. For animals, for humans, for our planet. This mistakenly ignores all the good they can do. Modern food and beverage containers help reduce food spoilage and waste. They limit the spread of disease. They can help save lives.
“In short, bottles and cans can benefit society if they’re designed properly and disposed of responsibly. To support this, businesses like The Coca-Cola Company can challenge ourselves to do more. To lead. To take risks. And to grow with conscience by doing business the right way, not just the easy way.”
Mr Quincey added: “That’s why we’ve announced a bold, ambitious goal: to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030. Regardless of where it comes from, we want every package to have more than one life. This is our vision for a World Without Waste.”
UK
Last summer (2017) Coca-Cola European Partners said it plans to use 50% recycled PET in all its plastic bottles by 2020 and will be achieved through a partnership with Clean Tech UK, which will supply the recycled material from its reprocessing plant in Hemswell, Lincolnshire.
The plant, which was acquired by Plastipak Europe in 2016, has been supplying recycled PET to CCEP for five years. CCEP said it had already sourced 50,000 tonnes of recycled PET from the plant and was set to become the largest user of recycled plastic in the food and drink industry through a new deal with Clean Tech.
The post Coca-Cola targets 100% recycling by 2030 appeared first on letsrecycle.com.