(CU)_Coca-Cola is set to sell soda in 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles in the United States for the first time. Accordingly, the initial items will be introduced this month in a selected group of states, including Florida and California, where items such as Coke and Diet Coke will be sold in 13.2-ounce bottles made from 100 per cent recycled plastic.
Subsequently, the company will distribute additional soda and bottle water items in such recycled packaging in selected markets later this year.
Alpa Sutaria, Coca-Cola’s vice president for sustainability in North America noted that plastic waste “continue to be top of mind for our consumers”, and therefore, the steps unveiled on Tuesday (Feb 9) are a “major milestone in a large and complex market”.
In December last year, in its annual audit, Break Free from Plastic, a global movement campaigning for a future free from plastic pollution, ranked Coca-Cola as the world’s No 1 plastic polluter, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, parks, rivers and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. It was found to be worse than the combination of Nestlé and PepsiCo, which were ranked second and third on the list.
Nevertheless, Coca-Cola has set a target of using at least 50 percent recycled content in packaging by 2030, and the United States is the 19th market worldwide where the beverage giant now sells items in packaging entirely made out of recycled plastic.
The new measures amount to a 20 per cent reduction in the company’s use of new plastic across North America compared to 2018.
