Drinks giant Coca Cola makes up about 12% of all packaging waste on UK beaches.
Drinks giant Coca Cola makes up about 12% of all packaging waste on UK beaches. Cadbury’s & Pepsico is not far behind.
Both Coca Cola bottles & cans have been shown to be the most frequently found pieces of packaging waste on UK beaches!
The research has been conducted by surfers against sewage (SAS) who found that the popular brand makes up over 12% of all litter on British beaches.
They had been cleaning and surveying over 229 beach sites in the UK, finding a staggering 50,000 pieces of waste.
Of the trash discovered about 20,000 pieces could be identified as belonging to one particular brand. In this portion Coca Cola made up the significant majority. Not far behind were other big brands like Walkers crisps, Cadbury’s, Mcdonald’s & Nestlé.
Very interestingly this 12% did not factor in other brands that were owned by Coca Cola. When these umbrella companies were added in the figure rose to 15%.
Using this formula meant that PepsiCo and its brands accounted for more that 10%, whilst Mcdonald’s and Nestle accounted for 7% & 6% respectively.
Hugo Tagholm the chief exec at surfers against sewage has said that businesses must take action to mitigate the effect their product packaging has on the environment. He quoted new rules that force companies to prevent and remedy littering caused by them.
He was keen to emphasise that ‘full transparency & disclosure’ is needed by companies on the amounts of packaging they allow into the ecosystem.
WIth the environmental cost clear for all to see it is clear that business as usual just will not do.
New, innovative packaging systems are needed to reduce the impact on oceans, forests and nature in general.
The big spring beach clean was an enormous success. Over 45,000 volunteers got involved to survey beach trash in the UK.
The findings have been shared with the UK government who are currently looking into ways to address the UK packaging pollution problem. One policy hoping to address this is the new ‘extended producer responsibility regulations’.
The current regulations cite that a company of more than £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging a year is accountable.
This would seam practical, however SAS are quoted as saying that 90% of the clean up costs associated with this usage are borne by local councils.
Commitment to Sustainability
Collection Strategy
61% of bottles and cans were collected and reused or recycled within the company’s supply chain in 2021. The company has an ambitious goal to raise collection rates even higher—reaching the equivalent of 100% of all packaging produced.
To reach this goal, they will work hard to drive innovation in sustainable packaging design that makes it easier to collect and recycle packaging materials, as well as support new developments in collection strategies across industry sectors.
By taking a holistic approach to sustainable production, they can create a circular system that minimises waste and reduces environmental impacts.
No single Use
Turning away from single-use trading jobs using first-time disposal steps is looking ahead at sophisticated materials tracking and landfill digging solutions top-notch companies are posed with creating viable long-term solutions for the reuse of products for years to come. We do not underestimate the importance of changing behaviors but also believe it is imperative to see a shift towards improved engineering practices that look beyond the obvious uses for experimental technology a necessity fuelling both environmentalism activism as well as economic development investments in emerging markets.
Shift to Circular Economy
Becoming a more sustainable society requires a shift to a circular economy centred around waste collection and reuse. This includes incentives for consumers, industry, and communities to facilitate the most efficient reuse of products. To this end, we are deploying a market-by-market strategy that takes into account the complexity of different countries, as well as exploring how to support additional recycled PET capacity in each region. Investing in infrastructure is key. It not only provides a source of recycled content for its packages but also helps create additional demand for recycling materials. Such investments should be made with long-term goals in mind - aiming for the widespread adoption of sustainable practices across the world that have a minimal environmental impact.
Commitment to Design
Coca-Cola has set ambitious goals by 2025 and 2030, such as making all their packaging recyclable and using at least 50% recycled material in their packaging respectively.
The company has made a commitment to collecting and recycling a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030.
Coca-cola targets above traditional economic profitability by including these additional sustainability measures through their designs.
Coke’s design ambitions set standards for international business in terms of climate change awareness and corporate responsibility signals beyond shareholders.
Driven by its core brand values around sustainability coca-cola is dedicated to increasing the number of recycled materials used in food-grade packaging thus commandeering the lead position among beverage producers, setting sustainable industry trends that other businesses will inevitably follow suit.
Its initiatives increase environmental awareness among consumers which creates much-needed demand for truly sustainable products that have positive environmental impacts throughout their lifecycle
Virgin plastic reduction goal
Coca-Cola has set a goal to reduce its use of virgin plastic derived from nonrenewable sources by 3 million metric tons over the next five years.
In 2025, they project that they will use 20% less virgin plastic than they do today.
Coca-Cola is investing in new packaging types, such as Marine Bottle - the first beverage bottle using recycled marine plastics.
Their 2030 goal is to have at least 25% of their beverages sold in refillable/returnable glass or plastic bottles or fountain dispensers with reusable packaging.
They are also committed to making 90% of their packaging recyclable globally and have already started increasing the use of recycled plastic (rPET).
With these efforts, Coca-Cola is pushing boundaries for research, development, and packaging innovation to create sustainable products that can help the environment.
Partnering to reduce waste
The Coca-Cola Company is committed to reducing plastic waste and creating a waste-free future.
They are focused on enhancing packaging design and materials, as well as collaborating with experts and organisations across the industry to drive progress toward this goal.
To achieve a World Without Waste, they're partnering with some of the most influential organisations working in this space, like the Ocean Conservancy, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and Beyond Plastics.
As part of their pledge to make all their packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, they are also working alongside local governments and communities around the world to increase access to collection opportunities for recyclables.
