Coca-Cola: Plastic and Profit

Fiona Rennie
Nov 12
2 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Plastic pollutes our land and our oceans, disturbing wildlife and ecosystems. Microplastics have been found throughout the human body and have unknown health effects. Almost all plastics are produced from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels, with production contributing to climate change. Worryingly, plastic production is growing exponentially, approximately doubling every decade. Much of this is single-use plastic.

Corporate Responsibility

Profit-driven corporations are largely responsible for excessive plastic production and consumption. Plastic is cheap, convenient and disposable. Fossil fuel giants, packaging companies and consumer goods corporations all make profit through plastic.

As the public becomes concerned with plastic pollution, consumer-goods corporations have successfully greenwashed their products; rather than making any meaningful change that might affect business, companies attempt to make their plastic products appear less harmful to the environment.

Recycling and the Consumer

Instead of taking responsibility, corporations have put the blame on consumers. They have focused on public littering campaigns and championed recycling as the solution to the plastic problem. Many corporations make misleading claims about the recyclability of their products and offer voluntary pledges for ‘sustainable’ change – many of which have been quietly abandoned.

Distraction and Lobbying

Corporations have continued to use more and more single-use plastic whilst promoting various false solutions. This gives them environmental credibility, maintaining profits, without any accountability. Consumers are distracted from the real problem of excessive plastic production and meaningful action and legislation is delayed. In fact, corporations often actively undermine real solutions, offering pledges for change whilst lobbying against legislation to restrict the use of plastic.

The Big Polluters

Over half of global branded plastic pollution can be tracked to just 56 companies. Despite many environmental claims and pledges, The Coca-Cola Company is consistently found to be the top global polluter. Coca-Cola uses a range of marketing tactics to obscure the harm that their products are causing. Although this greenwashing is by no means exceptional, it provides a case study of how corporations operate when the bottom line is profit.