USA: As there are calls on global firms to end secrecy over plastic footprint Coca- Cola has revealed for the first time it produces 3m tonnes of plastic packaging a year – equivalent to 200,000 bottles a minute – as a report calls on other global companies to end the secrecy over their plastic footprint.
The data from the soft drinks manufacturer was provided to the campaigner Ellen MacArthur, who is pushing for major companies and governments to do more to tackle plastic pollution.
The figures – which the company has refused in the past to disclose – reveal the amount of plastic packaging Coca-Cola produced in 2017. The company did not reveal the scale of its bottle production, but when its packaging footprint is translated into 500ml PET plastic bottles, it amounts to about 108bn bottles a year, more than a fifth of the world’s PET bottle out- put of about 500bn bottles a year.
Coca-Cola is one of 31 companies – including Mars, Nestlé and Danone – that have revealed how much plastic packaging they create as part of a drive for transparency by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Combined, they produce 8m tonnes of plastic packaging a year.
The first step by many of the companies who have signed the commitment was more openness. Alongside Coca-Cola’s data, Nestlé revealed it puts out 1.7m tonnes of plastic packaging annually, Uni- lever 610,000 tonnes, and Danone 750,000 tonnes.