[GreenYes] Coke & Pepsi Shareholder Resolutions

["Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com>]

Note: the full text of both resolutions is at
http://www.grrn.org/coke/coca-cola.html


COKE CONSIDERING WAYS TO BOOST
RECYCLED CONTENT

By Steve Toloken
Plastics News Staff

WASHINGTON (March 2, Updated 3:55 p.m. EST) -- Coca-
Cola Co. is considering unspecified ways to boost recycled
content and recycling, a spokesman said. Meantime, the
Securities and Exchange Commission has ruled that
PepsiCo Inc. shareholders will get to vote on a resolution
critical of that company´s recycling policies, rebuffing the
soft-drink giant´s attempt to block the vote.

Pepsi argued the resolution was misleading, but the SEC
ruled Feb. 21 that it should stand, if shareholders provide
some additional documentation of their claims. Ken Scott,
research analyst for one of the shareholders, Walden Asset
Management in Boston, said negotiations continue, but the
resolution is likely to be on the ballot at Pepsi´s annual
meeting.

The resolution asks the Purchase, N.Y.-based company to
use 25 percent recycled PET in its bottles and to work to
boost container recycling to 80 percent.

A similar resolution filed with Coca-Cola Co. will be voted on
at Coke´s April 18 annual meeting, Coke officials said. But,
unlike Pepsi, Scott said Coke has come forward with two
substantive proposals that he declined to specify.

"Coke is definitely ahead of Pepsi ... in terms of its
willingness and openness to alternative solutions for
container recycling," Scott said.

Officials with Pepsi could not be reached for comment.
Coke spokesman Trey Paris said the talks with shareholders
have been positive, and he said the company is considering
unspecified ways to boost recycled content and recycling.

"Our bottlers in the U.S. are in the process of setting
meaningful goals for increasing our use of recycled plastics,"
he said. "We will work towards increasing the use of recycled
material based on local market conditions and emerging
technologies."

He noted that the company uses 10 percent recycled PET in
one of every four bottles, but he said that if Coke ramped up
its use of recycled PET, it would only displace other users
like the fiber industry.

The shareholder groups respond that that is why they are
pressing Coke to work to also boost container recycling.

Paris, without providing specifics, said that "another goal for
our company is to encourage more participation by
consumers in recycling and developing new recycling
opportunities to increase the amount of material recovered."

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