Coca-Cola has announced an industry-first goal to help collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can sold worldwide by 2030.
The multinational beverage corporation announced that food and drinks packaging is a significant part of this worldwide problem and Coca-Cola has a responsibility to help solve it.
Coca-Cola aims to tackle this global challenge by investing in its packaging through the World Without Waste programme.
Coca-Cola’s global ambition
James Quincey, president and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company: “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.
“Through our World Without Waste vision, we are investing in our planet and in our packaging to help make the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past.”
Quincey said the company will continue to focus on developing 100% recyclable packaging and reducing the amount of plastic in our bottles.
The company announced that with the drinks’ packaging among the waste that ends up littering the countryside, communities and beaches, Coca-Cola underlines that they have got a real responsibility to address the world’s packaging problem.
Coca-Cola is setting itself a massive global ambition: By 2030 it aims to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every single one it sells.
Coca-Cola’s plans for the UK
In the UK, Coca-Cola has taken steps to make a difference by investing in state-of-the-art recycling facilities, including the Lincolnshire-based Clean Tech plant, Europe’s largest plastic recycling facility.
Clean Tech are planning to expand their capacity and production capabilities as a result of Coca-Cola’s commitment to make sure that all the plastic bottles in Great Britain contain at least 50% recycled plastic by 2020.
What is Coca-Cola doing in the UK already?
Some of the things Coca-Cola has been doing for the past 20 years and is continuing to do:
- Developing and refining packaging so that not only is it all 100% recyclable, but it’s lighter and uses less plastic than ever before
- Supporting recycling programmes and infrastructure to better recover bottles and cans for reuse
- Running consumer awareness and education campaigns around recycling. For example, our Love Story campaign
- Funding partnerships that protect and clean up the seas and waterways. For example, the projects with WWF and the Rivers Trust
- Working with organisations such as WWF, Ocean Conservancy and The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, on initiatives such as the New Plastics Economy
- Sponsoring clean-ups, such as the International Coastal Cleanup, the largest single-day volunteer event that helps clean the world’s waterways
- Supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean weekend
