Coca-Cola: The Recycling Myth

Coca-Cola has heavily promoted recycling as a solution to the problem of plastic pollution and environmental harm. This has unfairly shifted the burden of responsibility for plastic pollution onto consumers. Coca-Cola can continue to produce large quantities of cheap plastic bottles without any accountability, whilst the public takes the blame for litter.

Recycling is a false solution to the plastic problem. Only 9% of plastic has ever been recycled. Many plastics can’t be recycled. Even ones that can, like the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic commonly found in beverage bottles, cannot be indefinitely recycled in a circular fashion. After a few cycles non-recycled ‘virgin’ plastic needs to be added to maintain quality. Plastic bottles often end up being ‘downcycled’ into lower grade plastic products, like certain textiles and carpeting, which cannot be further recycled.

In addition, the infrastructure to collect items to enable recycling isn’t always available. Often ‘recyclable’ packaging gets thrown into general waste. There are usually no recycling facilities in public spaces. Coca-Cola promotes recycling, but has shown a historic lack of responsibility for ensuring that there is infrastructure in place for collection. 

Coca-Cola’s focus on recycling obscures various environmental problems. Recycling is an energy/resource intensive and polluting process. In addition, recycling is only a waste management solution to the plastic problem. Plastic production leads to significant greenhouse gas emissions, and there are health concerns surrounding the ingestion of microplastics and associated chemicals. Recycling doesn’t address these problems. 

Life cycle analyses (LCAs) show that using reusable packaging is more environmentally friendly than single-use plastic, regardless of whether it gets recycled or not. In fact Coca-Cola conducted their own LCA in the 1970s which concluded this too, but it was never publicly released. The company ignored it and continued to use cheap, single-use plastic.

Coca-Cola’s presentation of recycling as the solution to the plastic crisis amounts to greenwashing; this false solution is used to hide the full impacts their products have on the environment. In this way they can continue business as usual whilst appearing to be a sustainable brand. 

Read more about The Coca-Cola Company’s greenwashing tactics in episode 4 of this seven part series….

+++++++++++++++++

For more information contact: info@scarabtrust.org.uk

Image: Coca Cola plastic bottles - Photo by Tom Radetzki on Unsplash (ST ref:13460