Coca-Cola, which produces over 120 billion plastic bottles annually, announced last Thursday (the 10th) its goal of achieving 25% reusable packaging by 2030. Chang Kai-ting, director of the Plastic Reduction Project at the Taipei Office of the Green and Platform Initiative, noted that the shift to reusable packaging is an international trend, and that Taiwan's local retail industry should also make concrete commitments to plastic reduction as soon as possible.
As my country currently has no reduction target for disposable plastic packaging, Zhang Kaiting called on the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately propose relevant countermeasures. Reducing the amount at the source can effectively improve plastic pollution.
Coca-Cola, the four-time global champion in plastic pollution, has pledged to use reusable packaging for 25% of its products by 2030.
In 2020, Coca-Cola announced that it would reduce the use of non-recyclable plastic by 35% within five years. However, in 2021, it was still ranked as the world's worst plastic polluter by the "Break Free From Plastic" global initiative, and has been the world champion in plastic pollution for four consecutive years.
According to statistics, Coca-Cola produces more than 120 billion plastic bottles each year. According to Reuters, only 16% of Coca-Cola's packaging was reusable in 2020. However, Coca-Cola recently announced that this proportion will increase to 25% by 2030. In other words, after 2030, at least 25% of Coca-Cola's beverage packaging will be sold in refillable glass or plastic bottles.
Greenpeace said it will continue to urge Coca-Cola to make higher plastic reduction commitments, requiring the proportion of reusable packaging to double from 25% to 50%.
The latest ranking of the retail channel plastic reduction campaign will be announced soon.
Greenpeace also called on Taiwan's local retail industry to follow the example of multinational corporations and make specific commitments and schedules to reduce plastic.
Zhang Kaiting pointed out that Greenpeace evaluated Taiwan's retail channel companies' plastic reduction efforts in the past year in 2019 and 2020 based on four aspects: plastic reduction policies, reduction measures, initiatives and innovation, and information transparency. The latest evaluation for 2021 is expected to be made public this year (2022).
Zhang Kaiting also said that even though the evaluation began in 2019, no company had made a comprehensive commitment to reduce plastic until 2020.
Although Uni-President Enterprises, the leading convenience store chain, took the lead in proposing the "complete elimination of single-use plastics by 2050" last year, the implementation details still need to be reviewed to confirm whether it is clearly moving towards the path of "reuse" to reduce plastics.
my country has yet to implement a strategy to reduce single-use packaging. Greenpeace recommends a shift towards reuse.
When companies propose plastic reduction policy targets, the percentage of reusable packaging will be a key indicator for external scrutiny. Zhang Kaiting explained that some companies overemphasize the use of "recyclable packaging" in their products, but fail to guarantee that the waste actually enters the recycling system or is actually reused.
However, Taiwan currently has no strategies or regulations to reduce single-use plastic packaging. Chang Kai-ting explained that a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's previously proposed "2030 plastic restriction targets" revealed that the restrictions only covered plastic bags, straws, beverage cups, and disposable cutlery, with no specific reduction measures for single-use product packaging.
She called on the Environmental Protection Agency to quickly consider reduction targets and countermeasures for disposable plastic packaging if it wants to achieve its vision of a comprehensive plastic ban by 2030, such as explicitly banning the use of disposable packaging for specific items or setting reuse targets for specific items.
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/233366)
