ENN NEWS
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=A0 Coke encouraged to use recycled plastic
Friday, July 30, 1999
The Coca-Cola Company doesn't use recycled plastic for its bottles, which
results in billions of plastic bottles going to landfills or
incinerators.The Coca-Cola Company should live up to its promise to use
recycled plastic in its soda bottles, recycling advocates declared
Wednesday.
The Coca-Cola Company announced in 1990 that it would begin making soda
bottles out of recycled plastic. Due to market conditions, the company
abandoned the plan four years ago.
"As a result, billions of plastic bottles which could be used to make new
bottles go to landfills or incinerators every year," said Bill Sheenan,
coordinator for the GrassRoots Recycling Network.
The network has inserted an action alert in the most recent cycle of
telephone bills sent to the 300,000 long distance customers of Working
Assets, a long distance and credit card company that markets itself as bein=
g
environmentally friendly.
"Every day the company sells more than 20 million sodas in plastic bottles
here, and not one of them contains an ounce of recycled content. The result
is billions of soda bottles are wasted each year," the alert reads.
Working Assets customers are being encouraged to call Douglas Ivester, chie=
f
executive officer of Coca-Cola, and ask him to live up to the 1990 promise
to use soft drink bottles made from recycled plastic.
"Our policy regarding the use of recycled-content materials and products is
that they must meet government regulatory approval; achieve The Coca-Cola
Company's stringent quality requirements, and cost equal to or less than
competing processes relevant to local market conditions," the company's web
site says.
The company decided not to use recycled plastic in the United States becaus=
e
local market conditions were cost prohibitive. "But more cost-effective
technologies have been developing, technologies passing U.S. Food and Drug
Administration review," said Lance King, a network campaigner.
Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
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Related stories:
* Recycling activists target industrial waste
* Small California county takes on Coca-Cola
* Coca-Cola challenged to support recycling
* Biodegradable bags, utensils take off
* Californians urged to keep recycling
Related sites:
* The Coca-Cola Company: Environment
* Working Assets: Tell Coca-Cola to Use Recycled Plastic
* GrassRoots Recycling Network
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window.
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