Coke's Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Ian Brown, made the misleading remarks as he responded to last week's announcement of a boycott on the company's soft drinks until returnable refillable containers are introduced. Mr Brown claimed 'if you moved to a returnable refillable system ..... the whole economics of kerbside recycling would collapse'.
"Such a claim is absurd" says Mr Hopper. "Coke must either be ill-informed or deluding themselves."
"The boycott of Coke has been called for good reason" says Mr Hopper. "If Coke continues selling its soft drinks in non-returnable non-refillable containers then we'll keep informing its customers how much impact Coke's packaging policy is having on the environment."
"Plastic packaging, including the plastic PET bottle used increasingly by Coca-Cola, is perhaps the greatest threat to the future viability of kerbside recycling. The Plastics Industry Association recently reported that used PET costs $1203 per tonne to collect but is worth only $600. The difference is an enormous cost which is currently met by local councils and is being passed on to ratepayers regardless of whether they use the plastic bottles or not."
"With around 25000 tonnes of PET plastic used in Australia, primarily for soft drink bottles, the community could end up subsidising PET collection by more than $15 million per year."
"That's an unnecessary financial burden on an already over-stressed collection scheme" says Mr Hopper. "The economics of collecting plastics for recycling is atrocious from a local government viewpoint. Companies like Coca-Cola Amatil are having their expensive and extravagant packaging policies propped-up by local councils at the expense of local communities who would be better served by having the money spent on the collection of compostable material."
"A major corporation like Coke should be prepared to take full life-cycle responsibility for its product - or in this case its packaging. Coke must introduce returnable refillable containers throughout Australia similar to those used overseas and in South Australia where container-deposit laws apply."
The Nature Conservation Council has sought a meeting with the Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil to discuss these concerns but as yet has received no reply.