The Coca-Cola Company has just announced its new approach to significantly reducing waste. The company's vision for a World Without Waste involves recycling and changing its approach to packaging.
Investing In The Planet For A World Without Waste
On Jan. 19, the Coca-Cola Company shared its global vision for a waste-free world. The company's press release states that the vision begins by understanding that food and beverage packaging are important parts of a modern world, but that there are so many things that can be done to reduce the waste. As such, the company has set two key goals, which it aims to have achieved by the year 2030.
First, for every bottle or can that Coca-Cola sells, they intend to take another one to recycle, regardless of whether the bottle or can is theirs or from another company. The company expects that the 100 percent collection goal by 2030 will be reached by working with industry partners, customers, consumers, and even local communities.
Coca-Cola also highlights the importance of improving the packaging of its products, something that is already an ongoing process. With a goal of making all product packaging 100 percent recyclable worldwide, the company intends on building better bottles either by reducing the plastic content, using more recycled materials, or developing plant-based materials. By 2030, the company hopes to have made their packaging made of 50 percent recycled content.
We believe that every bottle and can we create should have more than one life. Discover the potential of a #WorldWithoutWaste: pic.twitter.com/0joN8UkPlM
— The Coca-Cola Co. (@CocaColaCo) January 19, 2018
Sustainability Efforts By The Coca-Cola Company
The World Without Waste vision is great news coming from a company that has been selling its products in single-use plastic and can packaging for years. That said, this is not the first time that the company has made concrete steps in trying to be a more sustainable company.
In fact, apart from the newly announced 2030 goals, it also has 2020 sustainability goals, including water stewardship goals which they already achieved in 2015, five years in advance. Also a part of its sustainability goals are climate protection, agriculture, packaging and recycling, and even matters such as giving back, human and workplace rights, and women's economic empowerment.
According to the press release, the steps that the company is taking are a part of its strategy to grow the right way, that is, with conscience. In a statement by Coca-Cola Company president and CEO James Quincey, he states that the world's packaging problem is not just a problem for sea turtles and coastal communities but for all of us too, and that businesses like Coca-Cola must do more to create better packaging and dispose of them properly.
"When we all come together through concerted, collective action, we can make a meaningful, lasting difference. That must be the mindset we all take. The guiding principle by which we all operate," said Quincey.
