No Deposit Says Coke

When the Atlanta Recycles coalition met in January to review the new year’s recycling plans and budget, one of the group’s financial partners, Coca-Cola, made it clear that they would pull their support for the group if it promoted a “bottle bill” -  a container deposit law to encourage plastic bottle recycling.  

Audio from a meeting of recycling leaders obtained by The Intercept reveals how the soda giant’s “green” philanthropy helped squelch what could have been an important tool in fighting the plastic crisis — and shines a light on the behind-the-scenes tactics beverage and plastics companies have quietly used for decades to evade responsibility for their waste.

Coke and its beverage company competitors may be at war in the grocery store aisles, but they have amazing solidarity in their opposition to deposit laws. These companies and the organizations they support have aggressively lobby against bottle deposits to the extent that only 10 states have bottle bills

 States with bottle bills recycle about 60 percent of their bottles and cans, as opposed to 24 percent in other states. And states that have bottle bills also have an average of 40 percent less beverage container litter on their coasts, according to a 2018 study of the U.S. and Australia published in the journal Marine Policy.

The soft drink industry has been firmly against up-front deposits to encourage recycling ever since they made the transition from glass to plastic bottles.  They quickly joined the campaign to blame consumers for litter. 

…it was the National Soft Drink Association, funded by Coke, that did the work to defeat the bill. At the same time, Keep America Beautiful was letting people know that “keeping America beautiful is your job.” Those who failed at that job were “litterbugs,” or, as the nonprofit organization made disturbingly clear in a video that year, pigs.

For Coke and the others, it’s all about the money.  Recycling is someone else's problem.