Coca-Cola Is Rolling Out a Major Change, and Shoppers Are Not Happy

Ashia Aubourg
Ashia Aubourg
From the moment I started remixing ramen noodles into gourmet meals and spending hours watching cooking shows as a puny six-year-old, I knew I found a deep passion for food. While I realized — after taking on a two-year high school internship in an award-winning kitchen — that a…read more
published Dec 12, 2024
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If you tend to reach for bottles of Coca-Cola, you’ll want to pay attention. Your favorite brand is currently in trouble for making promises about packaging sustainability and falling short.  

According to a study published by Science Advance this year, 56 brands led by the Coca-Cola Company are responsible for more than 50% of plastic pollution worldwide. After committing to using 50% recycled material in its packaging by 2030, the business changed its voluntary environmental goal to strive for 35% to 40% recycled material by 2035. 

In a recent press release, Coca-Cola announced that “this evolution is informed by learnings gathered through decades of work in sustainability, periodic assessment of progress, and identified challenges. Achieving these ambitions will require continued investments in innovation and infrastructure solutions, enabling legislation and further collaboration with bottling partners, industry peers, local governments, and civil society.” 

But this reasoning isn’t enough for people who shared their major disappointment in the news in the comment section of Coca-Cola’s most recent Instagram posts. “What about your recycling goal? Why silently quit?” one Instagram user wrote. “Stop producing so much plastic!” said another commenter. One person mentioned that they plan to “boycott” the company. 

People are accusing Coca-Cola of greenwashing, a tactic coined by environmentalists in the 1980s that, according to the United Nations, manifests when companies mislead the public into thinking that their business is doing more to tackle the climate change crisis than it is. 

In a press release Break Free, a global movement working to achieve a future free from plastic pollution, said, “Coca-Cola’s decision to abandon its reusable packaging goals is not just greenwashing — it’s a betrayal of the communities …” The statement also mentioned, “If they can’t even keep their low-bar commitments, how can they claim to be serious about addressing the global plastic crisis?”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.