This week, three of the largest beverage producers in the world - The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo, announced a new collaborative sustainability initiative. Every Bottle Back is a program in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund, The Recycling Partnership, and Closed Loop Partners. Further sponsored by the American Beverage Association, Every Bottle Back is intended to raise consumer awareness around recycling PET-based bottles and increase the number of bottles reclaimed. In general, the goal is reclaiming and reusing the bottles to reduce virgin plastic, as opposed to developing alternatives.
This announcement comes just after an audit by Break Free From Plastic was published, which determined that Coca Cola was the world's most polluting brand in plastic waste (PepsiCo was ranked third).
These three companies have very little in the way of IP that is aimed at biodegradability. Even with this partnership, and the $100 million committed to increasing PET recycling, investment will really need to be directed towards research rather than activism if they are truly behind their goal of reducing the amounts of plastics in landfills.
