Coca-Cola plot to kill off bottle deposits
COCA-Cola is trying to kill off the introduction of a deposit and refund scheme on plastic bottles to protect its profits, it was claimed last night.
Leaked documents reveal evidence of what it calls a ‘fight back’ against the proposal to boost recycling in Britain – even though the firm complies with such schemes in other countries.
Executives have held meetings with ministers in Westminster and Scotland to stress their opposition.
Yesterday, Greenpeace accused Coca-Cola of hypocrisy over the lobbying campaign, given that only last week it joined other firms to sign a pledge to tackle plastic waste.
Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, which revealed Coco-Cola’s lobbying, said: ‘Last week Coke was parading a vague plan to reduce its plastic footprint. But these revelations show that Coke’s real plan is to keep churning out millions of single-use plastic bottles and take no responsibility for what happens to them.’
The Mail reported calls for bottle deposits to be brough t back last week. Yesterday, Prince Charles joined those calling for Britain to adopt such a scheme, similar to those in Sweden and other nations, to boost recycling and tackle litter.
Coca-Cola – which also manufactures Sprite, Fanta, Capri Sun and Oasis – abides by schemes in countries where shoppers who return plastic bottles get their money back. Bottle recycling in Germany, where there is a deposit of 22p, is 98.5 per cent, compared with 57 per cent in the UK.
But a Greenpeace investigation found that an internal Coca- Cola Europe report includes what the firm calls a risk matrix, which outlines issues that could hurt its business.
The document, entitled Public Policy Risk Matrix & Lobby Focus, includes a section headlined ‘Fight Back’, covering bottle deposit schemes and increased collection and recycling targets. Greenpeace says executives from the US drinks giant met environment minister George Eustice in January last year, and fellow environment minister, Rory Stewart, two months later.
A meeting was also held with the then secretary of rural affairs in Scotland, Richard Lochhead, where plans for a scheme are under way.
His briefing notes, compiled ahead of the meeting with by Simon Baldry, managing director of Coca- Cola Enterprises, were released following freedom of information requests.
These show he expected Coca-Cola and others would try ‘ to force our hand on deposit return – and will be looking to leave the meeting with a commitment that it will be taken off the table as an option for consideration for the foreseeable future’.
Mr Lochhead rejected the line taken by the soft drinks companies.
In Coca-Cola’s 2015 report to the Securities and Exchange Commission in America, it stated: ‘If these requirements are implemented on a large scale in any of the major markets in which we operate, they could affect our costs, which could reduce our profitability.’ Miss Edge said: ‘It’s outrageous for Coca- Cola to ‘fight back’ against bottle deposit return schemes.
‘It’s not good enough to say consumers should be recycling more, while doors they’re lobbying against measures which would reduce plastic pollution.’ Coca- Cola said ‘ no one should be surprised’ it gets involved in the debate.
It added: ‘Whilst we participate in deposit schemes in some countries, in some cases we believe a different approach could be more effective – and in the UK we have raised concerns about the impact on household recycling.’