Coca-Cola Ends Its Only European Glass Bottles Packaging Scheme

Coca-Cola is about to kill off one of its only responsible packaging systems in the world. It's forcing consumers in Germany to buy drinks in disposable plastic bottles, instead of more eco-friendly reusable bottles that have been used there for decades.

The current reusable bottles can be refilled up to 40 times. By forcing people to buy disposable, single-use plastic bottles, Coke's move will squander huge amounts of energy when the climate is already struggling from growing carbon emissions. And it will mean more waste when our oceans are already awash with trash.

Thousands of German consumers are already up in arms about Coke's move.

Around 1.9 billion Cokes are consumed every day around the world, and most of them come in disposable plastic bottles. Until now, Coca-Cola has been doing a relatively good job in Germany, with a nation-wide system to collect, clean and refill empty plastic bottles. But now the company wants to kill the landmark system -- when it should be expanding it around the world.

Coke says it is only cutting down on 0.5L and 1.5L reusable bottles, not the whole system. But it's a significant step backwards, and environmentalists warn that the company will kill off the reusable plastic bottles system entirely if we don't speak up.

This is just one example of Coke putting its corporate profits ahead of the environment. In Australia, the company recently went as far as suing a state that had established a new recycling system the company didn't like.

The campaigning organisation, SomeOfUs is asking the public around the world to
tell Coca-Cola to expand its responsible packaging system, instead of killing it off:

“If we all come together, we can win this. Coke's $80 billion brand is everything to its executives, and the company spends millions on greenwashing. If we all come together, we can shame the world's biggest beverage company into introducing more reusable bottle schemes, not less.”

The roganisation sites some of it’s success:

“As a community, we have shown what we can achieve when we stand together to stop mega corporations like Coca-Cola from destroying our planet and seas. Hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members have called on supermarkets to clean up their supply chains and stop their suppliers from dumping toxic plastics in to the Mediterranean. Together, we have convinced Kellogg's and Wilmar to support a sustainable palm oil policy. Similar organized consumer pressure has dramatically slowed the rate of deforestation in Brazil.”

Coca-Cola can be moved with public pressure too, they say.

The petition calls on CEO Germany Muhtar Kent to: "Keep Germany's reusable bottle scheme for all bottle sizes, and roll out environmentally-friendly alternatives to disposable plastic bottles around the world."

You can sign the petition against Coca-Cola’s negative and environment destroying move here

Source: SumOfUs / Coca-Cola

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