Coca-Cola: Lobbying Against Legislation

Coca-Cola has deliberately hidden the damage its ever increasing plastic packaging does to the environment. Their deceptive advertising and push for recycling as the primary solution can be seen as examples of greenwashing. Many voluntary promises for sustainable change have been made and abandoned. 

These misleading marketing claims can be seen as part of a wider tactic to distract the public and delay and derail legislation that restricts plastic use.

Coca-Cola has lobbied against packaging legislation around the world. Despite being a company founded on a refillable glass model of sale, they have fought against various ‘Bottle Bills’, i.e.  government mandated deposit return schemes (DRS). Under a DRS consumers pay a mandatory deposit when they buy a bottle, which is returned when the bottle is dropped off at collection points. The bottles can then be recycled or washed and refilled. This scheme incentivises consumers to return their waste, reducing pollution. 

In the 1970’s Coca Cola, along with many beverage corporations, crushed legislation in the US that would have banned single-use containers in favour of more costly refillables. In the 1980s Coca-Cola led the way in shutting down bills that support the return and recycling of single-use containers. Today, under pressure, they hypocritically support DRS in the EU, but actively oppose mandatory DRS in places around the world such as Africa and China. 

In 2018 the Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola European partners spent a combined €1.2 million on lobbying against the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUP) in the EU, which places restrictions on plastic. 

In the US, Coca-Cola continues to lobby against proposed government laws. These include the introduction of corporate taxes, a ban on single-use packaging and requiring companies to pay the costs of collection and waste management. 

Lobbying often happens indirectly through various trades organisations or certain ‘environmental’ organisations. For example, The American Beverage Association or The Sustainable Packaging Coalition. This deliberately obscures the extent to which companies like Coca-Cola are involved in shutting down legislation.

Coca-Cola actively fights costly plastic legislation whilst presenting themselves as a sustainable brand. Coca-Cola’s distract, delay and derail tactics demonstrate the extent to which corporations are prepared to go to maintain profits. 

Read more about The Coca-Cola Company’s greenwashing tactics in episode 7 of this seven part series….

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

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

Images:

Discarded plastic bottles - Image by mbeo (ST ref: 1299)`

missing politicians - Image from Magnific (ST ref: 1365)