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Coca-Cola & Pepsi ignore the health impacts and environmental injustice of its plastic bottles, while scrambling to recycle more of the 70 billion that are wasted every year in the U.S.

The Coca-Cola Company recently announced plans to change its Sprite brand from green plastic bottles to clear plastic so that more can be recycled back into new clear bottles. Coke also pledged to make a majority of Dasani brand water bottles sold in the U.S. from 100% recycled plastic. Shortly thereafter, Pepsi announced that it was expanding a production facility to manufacture more bottles from 100% recycled plastic. Defend Our Health executive director, Mike Belliveau, responds:

“Coca-Cola says taking the green color out of plastic bottles will make them easier to recycle, but taking toxic additives out of all plastic bottles would make recycling safer. At least 150 chemical additives and processing aids are known to leach out of plastic bottles, including cancer-causing antimony and cobalt. Recent testing found antimony in every beverage sampled, with 40% above the California Public Health Goal for antimony in drinking water. 

Coca-Cola and Pepsi should be protecting consumer health by sourcing plastic bottles without antimony or cobalt, not recycling toxic plastic into even more bottles and throw-away polyester clothing. If these companies were truly committed to achieving a circular economy, they would detoxify their plastic and work to end environmental injustice across their plastics supply chain.

The production, use, and disposal of petrochemical plastic disproportionately impacts communities of color, worsens the climate crisis, and threatens human health. 

The beverage industry can’t recycle its way out of its plastic waste crisis. Coca-Cola and Pepsi should broaden their singular focus on improving their poor recycling rates. These beverage brand-owners should immediately require their suppliers to eliminate toxic additives like antimony and cobalt in favor of safer alternatives. 

A true sustainability commitment requires slashing reliance on fossil-based plastic entirely. They should up their game by replacing at least 50% of their plastic bottles with refillable and reusable container systems by 2030. Coca-Cola and Pepsi should join the growing global call to phase out production and use of virgin petrochemical plastic by 2040. That’s a true measure of their commitment to a circular economy.”