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John,
Right now, the 57 million tons of plastic pollution produced annually is enough to fill all of Central Park with waste as high as the Empire State Building.1
Companies have incredible power to curb this problem. How?
Right now, a company like Coca-Cola could continue to be, by one estimate, the world's largest source of branded plastic pollution.2
Or the company could go back to its roots, when it used refillable glass bottles. In the 1940s, 96% of soda bottles were reused.3
For us, the choice is simple. Join our petition urging Coca-Cola to ditch plastic and go back to its reusable, refillable glass bottle roots.
Let's wind back the clock a few decades. Communities didn't have plastic bags and bottles scattered around parks, they weren't dealing with overflowing landfills, plastic wasn't leaching into their drinking water.
Why? In part, because back then a company like Coca-Cola was part of the solution: They sold soda in reusable, refillable bottles. They even supported a bottle return system that kept an incredible 96% of their bottles in circulation, to be reused again and again.4
With a dump truck of plastic waste entering the oceans every single minute, we know we can't afford to have companies with the potential of Coca-Cola continue its plastic practices.5 Let's call on Coca-Cola to be part of the solution once more.
Coca-Cola's just one company -- but the benefits of getting them to commit to reusable bottles could be so much greater than just Coca-Cola products.
When the world's largest beverage company supports the production, distribution, and collection of reusable bottles, communities across the country could be cleaner, friendlier to bottle return systems, and -- most critically -- less polluted by plastic.
Help get Coca-Cola to return to its refillable roots. Call on the beverage company to use refillable bottles and support the systems that make them reusable.
Thank you,
Faye Park
President
1. Seth Borenstein, "The world is producing 57 million tons of plastic pollution per year, new study finds," PBS, September 4, 2024.
2. Sareen Habeshian, "Coca-Cola is largest known contributor of branded plastic waste, global study finds," Axios, April 24, 2024.
3. Livia Gershon, "You'll Never Believe Who Invented Curbside Recycling," JSTOR Daily, August 6, 2021.
4. Livia Gershon, "You'll Never Believe Who Invented Curbside Recycling," JSTOR Daily, August 6, 2021.
5. "Did you know these scary plastic waste facts?" U.S. PIRG, October 30, 2023.
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