Coca-Cola and the plastic problem

“Open to the new” is a Coca-Cola slogan. The group is struggling with change. But because the criticism of the production of plastic waste persists, Coca-Cola wants to focus more on recycling.

From Notker Blechner, tagesschau.de Who does not know them: pictures of PET bottles floating in the seas or lying around in the forests. Plastic waste clogs the stomachs of birds and fish – and spoils entire strips of coast. Ocean researchers, environmentalists and politicians keep sounding the alarm. But plastic bottles, packaging and other materials made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) still generate more than 60 million tons of waste every year. Nine million tons end up in the oceans. A large part of these are PET bottles.

Coca-Cola largest plastic polluter?

Coca-Cola is partly responsible for the flood of plastic waste. The soft drink giant produces thousands of plastic bottles every second. It’s 88 billion a year. The Break Free from Plastic Campaign, a global network for the fight against plastic waste, sees the group as the largest plastic polluter in the world. In order to change its bad image, the group is now forced to act. He is introducing 100 percent recycled PET bottles (rPET) for some brands in several US states and aims to reduce the use of new plastic by a fifth by 2030. In smaller markets such as Sweden and the Netherlands, Coca-Cola says it has already switched all PET bottles to 100 percent rPET.

Crushed PET bottles are waiting to be recycled. Coca-Cola wants to recycle more in the future.

Higher recycling rate for PET bottles planned

In Germany, too, Coca-Cola wants to increase the recycling rate for PET bottles. At the end of 2020, the proportion of recycled material (rPET) was 40 percent. This should rise to 70 percent by the end of the year, a spokeswoman announced tagesschau.de at. ViO brand bottles should then consist entirely of recycled PET. Details will be announced next week. The Brause Group, which published its quarterly figures today, and the rest of the beverage industry have an interest in increasing the proportion of recycling. Because from the coming year, according to the amendment to the Packaging Act, a deposit will be levied on PET bottles made of single-use plastic. From 2025, non-returnable PET bottles for beverages must be made of at least 25 percent recycled plastic (recycled material), and then 30 percent in 2030.

Recyclate more expensive than new plastic

Around 90 percent of bottles are currently collected in Germany – mostly via the corresponding containers in supermarkets. Only 30 to 40 percent of the collected and processed PET bottles are used again for new bottles. The rest is recycled into foils, bottle crates or other materials. The problem: When the PET bottles are thrown into the recycling machines in the supermarkets, Coca-Cola and the beverage industry no longer have access to the material. You have to get recyclate from the market. In addition, PET recycling is now a good 50 percent more expensive than the production of new plastic bottles. The PET recyclate currently costs up to 500 euros per ton more than new PET. The intermittent drop in the price of oil made new fossil plastics even cheaper.

Lidl collects and recycles its own PET bottles

The Schwarz Group is taking a different approach with the discounter Lidl. It has set up its own recycling collection and processing system. As a result, Lidl achieves a recyclability of at least 50 percent for its plastic bottles in its range. The Saskia brand PET water bottles are made entirely from recycled plastic. The discounter wants to achieve a recycling rate of 100 percent for all of its own brands by 2025. Actually, 70 percent of all drinks in Germany should be sold in reusable packaging. This has been the goal of the Packaging Act since 2019. But the German beverage industry is still a long way from that. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the reusable rate in 2018 was only around 41 percent. There is a large gap between the individual segments. While the reusable quota for beer is over 80 percent, it is only 23 percent for non-alcoholic soft drinks.

Disposable or reusable?

Lobby associations, discounters and environmentalists have been arguing for years about the ecological benefits of reusable and disposable. The one-way lobby, the Association of Beverage Packaging of the Future, whose shareholders are Red Bull, Pepsi, Aldi and Lidl, argues that there is significantly more traffic with returnable glass bottles. Because compared to the compressed one-way plastic bottles, there is less space on a truck. In addition, the empties then have to be driven back and forth. Reusable advocates like Deutsche Umwelthilfe oppose that one-way bottles are only filled in a few places in Germany and therefore have to cover a lot of kilometers.

Start-ups bring new innovations

The beverage industry is hoping for new innovations. These could further increase the recyclability of PET bottles in the foreseeable future. Coca-Cola is working with the Dutch start-up Ioniqa Technologies. It has developed a process that breaks down plastic into its individual components, the monomers. The separated materials are cleaned and then reassembled into new plastic. The technology of the French start-up Carbios sounds even more revolutionary. The company has found a “plastic eater”. With a new enzyme they manage to break down a PET bottle by 90 percent within a few hours, i.e. to break it down into its components. A new plastic granulate is formed from the molecules. Carbios will build a pilot plant in Clermont-Ferrand by the middle of the year. PepsiCo, Nestlé Waters and Orangina Schweppes are cooperating with the start-up.

Instead of glass or plastic: Cola could in future also be available in paper bottles like this one.

Paper bottle as an alternative?

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola and Carlsberg are working on an (almost) plastic-free alternative: the paper bottle. The beer brewer Carlsberg has been experimenting with bottles made of wood fiber for two years. Coca-Cola is now testing the prototype of a paper bottle in Hungary. It consists of a paper sleeve with a plastic lining. Both Coca-Cola and Carlsberg rely on the innovative strength of the Danish start-up Paboco. Coca-Cola sees the paper bottle as a further step towards the “world without rubbish”. There are still many steps to be taken.