Coca-Cola has joined industry effort to minimise use and increase collection of plastic
Image: “Every Bottle Back” initiative will help address America’s plastic waste problem. Photo: courtesy of THE COCA-COLA COMPANY.
Coca-Cola, along with Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo, has joined the multi-faceted industry initiative called “Every Bottle Back” to address America’s plastic waste problem.
Three companies will join the American Beverage Association (ABA)-organised coalition, which is also comprised of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners.
ABA president and CEO Katherine Lugar said: “Our industry recognizes the serious need to reduce new plastic in our environment, and we want to do our part to lead with innovative solutions.”
“Every Bottle Back” is a multi-faceted industry initiative that includes four core components
The multi-faceted industry initiative comprises four core components, including measuring the reduced use of new (virgin) plastic in the US Progress using WWF’s ReSource: Plastic accounting methodology, and applying a collected date to make efficient solutions.
As part of the initiative, around $100m will be invested to enhance sorting, processing and collection of discarded plastic bottles in four major US regions.
Administered by the Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners, the industry-backed fund will gather an additional $300m in matching grants and investment to enhance the amount of recycled plastic available to be remade into beverage bottles.
The initiative will also include the launch of a public awareness and community outreach campaign to endorse the value of 100% recyclable bottles.
In addition, the initiative will help work together to make consumers use 100% recyclable PET bottles. Starting in late 2020, the US beverage companies will start print voluntary messaging on packaging labels.
Coca-Cola North America president Jim Dinkins said: “We’re proud to come together with our competitors to address the serious issue of plastic waste in our environment.
“We know we cannot do this alone and, in order to meet our goals and those of our industry, we need to work in partnership to drive collective action to ensure our bottles have second, third and fourth lives through continued recycling and re-use.”
Earlier this month, Coca-Cola has been named the world’s most prolific plastic polluter by environmental pressure group Break Free From Plastic.