As the slogan proclaims: ‘Coke is it’. However this ‘it’ isn’t something to be proud of.
Coca-Cola has today been named as the world's biggest polluter of plastic waste. And we want Tearfund supporters like you to give the Coca-Cola Company a cool, refreshing talking-to.
The company produces a staggering 108 billion plastic bottles every year. And that makes them the biggest plastic polluter in the world.
With this in mind, Tearfund supporters, and anyone else concerned about plastic pollution, are being asked to send a message in a bottle to Coca-Cola, as part of our Rubbish Campaign.
The campaign has called upon four of the biggest producers of plastic packaging to clean up their act.
PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever have all agreed to discuss the issues raised with representatives from Tearfund. Meanwhile, Unilever has pledged to halve the amount of virgin (non-recycled) plastic produced by 2025. Coca-Cola, however, hasn’t made any comparable pledge regarding their use of plastic, nor have they yet agreed to meet with us to discuss the pledges we have asked these companies to make.
Plastic and poverty
Plastic is a topic close to our hearts at Tearfund, as the worst impact of plastic pollution is on poorer nations, where there are often no official rubbish collection services.
‘Multinational companies are selling billions of single-use plastic products in countries where waste isn’t collected,’ says Joanne Green, Tearfund’s Senior Policy Adviser. ‘They know that communities will have no choice but to burn it or live among it.’
