Coca-Cola just weakened its goal to reduce single-use plastics

Days after the U.N. global plastics treaty negotiations failed to produce an agreement, one of the world’s top contributors to plastic pollution has abandoned its plastic reduction and reuse goals.

The Coca-Cola Company announced Monday that it has revised its climate goals to focus more heavily on the use of recycled materials instead of reducing virgin and single-use plastic. By 2035, the company said that it aims to increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging to 30 to 35 %, and “help ensure the collection of 70 to 75 % of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually.”

The company faces “challenges that are complex” as it evolves its voluntary sustainability goals, Bea Perez, an executive vice president, said in the announcement.

In an email, a Coca-Cola Company spokesperson said that “the company is focusing its efforts to use more recycled material in primary packaging and supporting collection rates.”

According to a study published in April, Coca-Cola accounted for 11 % of branded plastic pollution in the world.

“They had a real solution, and they walked away from that,” said Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president at Oceana, an international advocacy organization. “It’s bad news for the environment and the oceans.”

The company had previously pledged to reduce the “use of virgin plastic derived from non-renewable sources by a cumulative 3 million metric tons from 2020 to 2025,” as well as selling 25 percent of its beverages in refillable or returnable packaging by 2030.

Coca-Cola did not reduce the use of virgin plastic between 2020 and 2023, the spokesperson said, due to “business growth,” and sold 14 percent of its product in reusable packaging last year, according to the company’s 2023 sustainability report.

The Coca-Cola Company was a member of the business coalition at the U.N. global plastics treaty conference this past week in South Korea, where nearly 200 delegations from around the world met with the aim of finalizing a treaty to address plastic pollution. The conference ended without consensus, though delegates hope to resume talks next year.

“The timing of this announcement is interesting coming on the heels of the treaty,” said Judith Enck, a former regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and current president of Beyond Plastics.

“It’s disturbing to say it remains challenging when they oppose the solution at every opportunity,” she added, referring to the company’s opposition to state bottle bills, which require refundable deposits on certain beverage containers to ensure recycling or reuse.

Advocates criticized the company for dropping its targets to reduce single-use plastics, which are considered one of the main causes of plastic pollution. Most single-use plastics do not get recycled, and globally only 9 % of plastics are successfully recycled.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that they’ve gone away from goals that could actually help them reduce overall plastic use,” Littlejohn said. “Now they’re leaning into using recycled packaging, but those bottles still get thrown away.”