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Comment by Steve44 | Hacker News Reader

> And virtually all the plastic produced by Coca-Cola is 'new' plastic made from Crude Oil

Not in the UK. They've been using rPET[1] for some time and are now increasing the rPET content to 100% in their smaller bottles.

https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/environment/recycling/c...

> This milestone means Coca-Cola will have increased the amount of recycled plastic material in smaller bottles from 50% to 100%. Coca-Cola’s use of recycled plastics in Great Britain now saves 29,000 tonnes of virgin plastic each year – the equivalent of 2,292 double decker buses.

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I want to be positive but this is happening too slowly and only in markets where consumers value it (Scandinavian countries, UK, Germany) so without wanting to be cynical this is mostly brand management more than sustainability.

Using recycled plastic is still more expensive than new plastic, so unless they are willing to take the profit hit this is mostly talk with little walk and only in the markets where it will make a difference for their bottom line.

"…so unless they are willing to take the profit hit…"

This is solved by simple regulation. Put a levy on new plastic to the point where reusable is cheaper. The only impediment is political will and that can be changed by citizens lobbying their parliamentary reps.

This is the best answer to everyone that says companies are just following consumer spending.

Companies are not victims of consumers they are actively lobbying against environmental regulations.

The UK has the plastic packaging tax already in force and the extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging coming into force on 01 January.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/plastic-packaging-...

[2] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-collect-your-packaging-da...

Out of curiosity, is packagingnews.co.uk a site you visit frequently for industry news or the first that come up on google when you searched for coca-cola's recycling activities in the UK?

It's one that I know and flick through regularly. It covers the wider aspects of the packaging industry and has a good reputation for following what's going on.

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