Credit: Irene Campmany, Oceana
According to Oceana’s newest report, The Coca-Cola Company’s annual plastic use will exceed 4.1 million metric tons by 2030 if its current practices continue – but it could reportedly avoid this outcome by making 26.4% of its packaging reusable within the same time frame.
If Oceana’s prediction is correct, the Company’s plastic consumption could inflate by almost 40% between the company’s reported plastic use in 2018 and the figure expected in 2018; it would also mark a 20% increase from its most recent plastic use disclosure in 2023.
This outcome could condemn an estimated 602,000 metric tons of plastic packaging to waterways and oceans around the world, Oceana warns.
However, it believes that the company could ‘bend its plastic curve’ if 26.4% of its packaging is reusable by 2030; this would translate to a 10.2% increase from 2023 and, apparently, reduce its annual plastic use below current levels.
Oceana asserts that plastic bottles can be reused up to 25 times, and glass alternatives up to 50. It adds that up to 49 single-use bottles could be saved for every reusable alternative utilized.
“Coca-Cola’s future is currently tied, like an albatross around its neck, to single-use plastic,” said Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president at Oceana. “Single-use plastic is bad for the oceans, human health, and business. Recycling can’t solve the company’s out-of-control plastic problem. Reuse can.”
A peer-reviewed study previously identified Coca-Cola as the biggest contributor to branded plastic found in the environment – but the Company’s voluntary environmental targets, as revised in December 2024, primarily focus on increasing recycled content and collecting single-use plastic bottles for recycling.
Its previous goal to increase reusable packaging to 25% of its sales by 2030 went largely unaddressed, and any mention of this goal was allegedly removed from the company’s website – leading to accusations of greenwashing.
In any case, Oceana argues that neither collecting plastics for recycling nor increasing recycled plastic content in its single-use packaging will reduce the Company’s overall plastic footprint.
“Single-use plastic bottles made with recycled content can — just like bottles made of virgin plastic — still become marine pollution and harm ocean life,” Littlejohn added.
“The Coca-Cola Company’s plastic use and status as one of the most famous plastic polluters in the world is a liability for the future of the company, the oceans, and the planet. Coca-Cola needs to take real action to address its plastic problem now instead of focusing on measures that don’t meaningfully reduce its single-use plastic footprint.”
Should the Company fail to address its plastic footprint, Oceana recommends that policymakers enforce measures that would make such progress mandatory.
This report comes after James Quincey, chief executive at Coca-Cola, said in an earnings call that the company may pivot back to plastic bottles if Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on aluminium imports has a financial impact on metal can production. However, he cautioned against “exaggerating the impact” of rising prices, stating that “it’s not going to radically change a multibillion-dollar US business.”
Additionally, The Coca-Cola Company was one of several big brands to participate in the Petaluma Reusable Cup Project, in which reusable cups were served as the default takeaway options at various establishments in California, USA. The project reportedly achieved a 51% return rate, with over 220,000 cups returned across the twelve-week programme.
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