Coca-Cola has promised to help solve the recycling problem. This is how he plans to deliver

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The company is committed to making its bottles and cans from at least 50% recycled materials over the next 11 years. To do this, Coca Cola (KO) must be able to capture recycled materials and use them to make new packaging

It's a sizeable business, especially since the company has produced more than 3 million tons of plastic packaging in 2017, according to a new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which is working with companies to reduce waste.

Coca-Cola is one of many large companies to have pledged significant sustainability efforts. Waste reduction commitments are a way for brands to show their customers, who are increasingly concerned about the environment, their interest, and share that message with their employees. In addition, recycling offers businesses a way to better control their supply chains and avoid potentially volatile commodities markets.

But recycling commitments are difficult to obtain. For Coca-Cola to keep its promises, the beverage industry must make its packaging fully recyclable, which it aims to do by 2025. It must also persuade people to recycle properly, which would help Coca's customers. -Cola to live in places with enough resources. recycling infrastructure.

If Coca-Cola wants to keep its promise, it must help repair the recycling systems in the communities it serves.

Blue recycling bins are seen on a residential street in Portland, Oregon. Coca-Cola will use the teachings of its Atlanta program to help it scale up its recycling efforts.

Start small

On Thursday, the Coca Cola Foundation announced $ 5.4 million in grants to several environmental organizations, including GreenBlue for recycling efforts in Orlando, Keep Houston Beautiful and the Boston Parks and Recreation Foundation.

Most of the money, about $ 4.15 million, goes to the Partnership for Recycling, a national non-profit group that uses corporate funding to help develop a recycling infrastructure. . The partnership is using these funds to improve recycling in Atlanta.

Municipal employees tag recycling bins with contaminating items.

The city's goal is to reduce recycling contamination by more than 25 percent and increase the capture of recyclable materials by 20 percent in approximately 100,000 households over the next three years, Cody said. Marshall, Head of Community Strategy for the Recycling Partnership, at CNN Business. . It's a "heavyweight," he says. "But we are really confident we can do it."

Coca-Cola, supported by the partnership, embarks on a campaign "the feet in the street". The initiative employs municipal employees and temporary employees to check curbside household recycling bins for contamination of items such as plastic bags, food, liquids or electronics and leave a label explaining what's wrong with the bins where these items are.

Workers note the violation in one application to track changes in recycling habits over time. Recycling will not be collected until people have recovered the offending items.

Atlanta citizens will also receive letters and the city will educate the public about proper recycling via its social media channels. The grant money will also help fund recycling programs for the multifamily residences and university campuses of the city.

The city and the Recycling Partnership tested a similar program on nearly 5,000 households in 2017. This pilot program resulted in a 57% reduction in recycling contamination and a 27% increase in material collection. recyclable.

The problem of recycling

Recycling is complicated.

Cities apply different rules for what can be recycled and throwing something that is not generally recyclable – like a cup of paper coffee – into a recycling bin causes problems for recycling facilities . Cups, for example, tend to erase recycling equipment because their plastic coating is stuck in the filters of the machine. To get rid of non-recyclable contaminants, recyclers must separate the waste and send it to the landfill for a fee.
For a while, the economic situation made sense for the recyclers. They have earned enough sales of recycled content to offset the cost of waste disposal. But China has recently adopted its "national sword" policy, which imposes restrictions on the types of recycling that the country is willing to import. The business model of recycling has changed since then.

When China closed some materials, some US recyclers ended up without key buyers. The hardest-hit states are those that previously sent most of their recycling to China, including New York.

Workers sort plastic waste at a plastic recycling plant in Mexico.

New York City municipalities, outside of New York City, "now have to collectively pay $ 42 million for sorting and marketing recyclables, because physical value no longer covers the costs of tri ", explained Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York National County Association, in a message to the head of the National Association of Counties.

He added that many municipalities "have experienced a more than 1,000% increase in recycling costs since 2017 due to the recession in the paper market". In countries like Atlanta, where recycling has never been more important in China, the ban has had a smaller impact.

"We have a very strong recycling infrastructure for bottles, cans and textiles not only in Atlanta, but also in Georgia," said Kanika Greenlee, director of environmental programs at the Atlanta Department of Public Works and director. Executive Committee Keep Atlanta Beautiful. "So for us, the challenge has not been that big."

The 11-year Coca-Cola plan

The fragmented approach – distributing funds to different groups supporting individual cities – is the most effective way to help Coca-Cola improve recycling, said Bruce Karas, vice president of the company. environment and sustainable development of Coca-Cola in North America.

"If you take recycling and waste and say, well, it's a national problem, you can never solve it," he said. "It's a local problem." The company will be able to learn from the Atlanta program and understand how to apply what works to other places.

For Coca-Cola, getting away from China could be a good thing.

"We need to develop the end markets here," said Karas. "It does not help us if it's on the other side of the world."

Coca-Cola plans to refine its objectives based on what it gets from programs like the one in Atlanta.

"Right now we are building our pilots," said Karas. "Every year we will be able to refine our goal," he said. Karas is confident that the company will be able to reach its goals by 2030.

Coca-Cola has also worked with the Recycling Partnership and other groups to help strengthen infrastructure around the world. Later this year, Coca-Cola will launch a marketing campaign and organize local events designed to show people how recycled materials can be transformed.

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