Dive Brief:
- An estimated 14% of Coca-Cola’s total beverage volume was served in reusable packaging in 2023, unchanged from the prior year, a figure that drew criticism from environmental group Oceana.
- Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s senior vice president, said the company “has failed to make progress” and that Coca-Cola is “not on track to meet its reuse goal, which is terrible news for the oceans.”
- The soda, water, tea and sports drink maker said in 2022 that it aimed to have at least 25% of all beverages it sells coming from reusable containers by 2030.
Dive Insight:
With consumers paying more attention to the environmental footprint left by their favorite brands, many companies such as Coca-Cola have come out with pledges for various parts of their businesses. Green groups like Oceana are keeping a close watch on those commitments, and they are not afraid to call out CPG players they believe are not making enough progress.
Coca-Cola has struggled in recent years to make progress on its reusable packaging goal. Last year, its sustainability report found an estimated 14% of its total beverage volume was served in reusable packaging in 2022, a decline from 16% two years earlier.
“In light of this lack of progress and commitment by the company’s bottlers, Oceana is calling on Coca-Cola to disclose its plan for how the company will meet its reuse goal by its 2030 deadline,” the environmental group said.
Oceana estimated if Coca-Cola reaches its 25% reusable packaging commitment, it could avoid producing the equivalent of over 100 billion 500-milliliter single-use plastic bottles and cups.
In response to Oceana’s report, a spokesperson with Atlanta-based Coca-Cola stated that “while sales of finished products served in reusable packaging increased by more than 100-million-unit cases [last year] compared to 2022, business growth outpaced our efforts to increase total beverage volume [of reusable packaging].”
The spokesperson noted that during the Olympic and Paralympic games in Paris, the maker of Diet Coke, BodyArmor and Dasani served its drinks, when possible, in reusable and returnable cups. In venues where it couldn’t have drink fountains, beverages were served from recycled plastic bottles or returnable glass bottles into reusable and returnable cups.
”We know more must be done, and we can’t achieve our goals alone,” the person said.
Coca-Cola has put in place other various packaging changes to make its offerings more environmentally friendly. It tested out a Sprite bottle without labels earlier this year to remove one step during the recycling process. Coca-Cola also announced two years ago it would change its famously green Sprite bottles to clear PET in North America, in a bid to increase its bottle-to-bottle circularity.
Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles annually, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person in the U.S., according to data from Grand View Research cited by EarthDay.org.
A report released in 2022 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found the amount of plastic waste produced globally is on track to almost triple by 2060, with around half ending up in landfills and less than 20% recycled.
Other companies, including Coca-Cola’s archrival PepsiCo, also have struggled to advance their plastic sustainability goals. In 2023, the food and beverage company’s ESG report attributed its increased use of virgin plastic from nonrenewable sources, in part, to “limited availability and high cost of recycled content.”
