Why should Coke pay more to use recycled plastic?
The information we have from industry sources is that adding recycled plastic to soda bottles would cost about one-tenth of one cent per bottle. The cost to recycle is small compared to Coke’s profit of 21 cents per container in cases of 20-ounce plastic soft drink bottles, and little in relation to Coke’s $3.5 billion profit last year. But more importantly, Coke is creating waste that is a burden on taxpayers and local governments. Let’s be perfectly clear: the public pays for Coke’s waste, while Coke profits. The public pays because we subsidize the cost of recycling and landfilling billions of Coke’s bottles. Taxpayers also pay for roadside litter pickup and the cost of cleaning up environmental pollution from making new plastic bottles. Q: Is safety of recycled content bottles an issue for Coke? A: No. Coke used recycled plastic in soft drink bottles for four years, between 1991 and 1995. Coke presently uses 25 percent recycled content in its bottles in at least Australia, Sweden a
