Coca-Cola Co: Sustainable Packaging Policies for Plastics
WHEREAS: Despite undertaking certain actions to reduce virgin plastic use and increase recycling, The Coca-Cola Company has been cited as the top global plastic packaging polluter for four consecutive years. The company’s packaging generates enormous amounts of plastic pollution. Nearly half its packaging consists of single use PET plastic bottles, generating 3 million tons of plastic packaging annually, the equivalent of 200,000 bottles per minute.
Experts believe actions to reduce single use plastics, including refillable bottle systems, are key to reducing plastic pollution and increasing financial return.
The Company says it operates re-use systems in more than 40 markets, in which glass and plastic beverage bottles are collected, washed, and refilled from 20 to 40 times. Despite the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these programs, in which up to 95% of refillable bottles are collected, only 11% of the Company’s products are currently packaged in refillable glass or plastic bottles, lagging behind other large beverage companies such as Molson Coors, which reports a 61% refillable rate (by weight), and Anheuser Busch InBev, with 35% refillables (by volume). The Company has not publicly committed to increased refillables targets and timelines except in one country – Brazil.
Single use bottles are far more likely to be improperly disposed of and become ocean pollution, harming marine life. Less than 30% of U.S. PET plastic single use bottles are recycled, leaving the vast majority to be landfilled or leaked into the environment. Refillables provide significant opportunities for faster, larger cuts in single use plastic, and carbon footprint reduction benefits as well, since reusable bottles don’t need to be recycled or remade. The company has stated that refillables are among its best packaging options for reducing carbon footprint. Boosting market share of refillables by 10% in coastal countries in place of single use bottles could reduce plastic pollution by 22%, and a 20% increase could cut pollution by 39%, according to a study by environmental group Oceana.
The growing plastic pollution problem will be more economically challenging for companies that are not investing adequately in alternative packaging solutions. Governments are increasingly likely to impose limits or punitive taxes on single use plastic bottles. Germany has put in place refillable bottle requirements. Chile is requiring that 30% of drinks for sale in stores be refillable.
While the Company has considerable refillable bottle infrastructure already in place, it lacks transparent metrics and uniform reporting on the success of existing programs, as well as goals and deadlines for rapid expansion of these efforts.
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors issue a report, within one year, describing the potential to more rapidly reduce dependence on single use plastic packaging by expanding and supporting refillable bottle systems and infrastructure globally. The report should establish uniform companywide metrics for the company's public reporting on refillables use, and evaluate opportunities for setting aggressive refillables goals and deadlines.
Resolution Details
Company: Coca-Cola Co
Lead Filers:
As You Sow
Year: 2022
Filing Date:
November 2021
Initiative(s): Consumer Packaging
Status: Resolution Withdrawn, Agreement Reached