Coca-Cola Europacific Partners shareholders under pressure to boost packaging reuse

24 May 2024 --- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) shareholders gathered in London this week for their annual meeting. During the event, advocacy organization Oceana organized street protests and called on the company to commit to more reusable packaging. 

Although the Coca-Cola Company pledged in 2022 to reach 25% reusable packaging by 2030, CCEP — the world’s largest bottler and seller of Coca-Cola products — has yet to make a similar commitment, asserts Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. 

“Plastic is devastating our oceans, and Coca-Cola is the world’s top plastic polluter, according to survey results published by the Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) movement. In order for Coca-Cola to meet its reusable commitment, it needs support from its bottlers, especially CCEP,” said Oceana’s senior vice president, Matt Littlejohn, in an issued statement.

The BFFP study published last month found that 56 global companies are responsible for more than half of all branded plastic pollution. The top five brands globally, including The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone and Altria, collectively accounted for 24% of the total branded count. These companies and 51 others are responsible for more than 50% of the world’s branded plastic pollution.

In order for Coca-Cola to meet its reusable commitment, it needs support from its bottlers, especially CCEP, asserts Oceana’s senior VP Littlejohn. More reuse to come?
Littlejohn asserts that if the Coca-Cola Company meets its commitment, it could, by 2030, eliminate the cumulative equivalent of over 100 billion 500 mL single-use plastic bottles and cups and prevent up to 14.7 billion of these plastic containers from entering waterways and seas.

“CCEP, please stop delaying. The Coca-Cola Company itself has reported that refillable bottles can have the lowest carbon footprint of any packaging type and the highest collection rate, especially when compared to single-use plastic bottles. Reuse is clearly the winning strategy for our oceans and planet. Make a commitment now to scale up reusable packaging and help save our oceans. They can’t wait,” he continues. 

Last year, a report by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that some companies, including Coca-Cola, saw rises in virgin plastic use, of 10%, 14% and 8%, respectively. The report was published ahead of the third International Negotiating Committee for a UN Global Plastics Treaty in Nairobi, Kenya, in November. It showed that businesses are on track to fail most of the 2025 targets established by the commitment.

Oceana now sent a letter to the company, and distributed it to shareholders, staff and executives as they walked into their annual meeting. According to the advocacy organization, the plea will also appear in the Financial Times, on chalk sidewalk ads and mobile billboards so shareholders and employees can see and understand the importance of CCEP making this commitment.

By Natalie Schwertheim