Cases / Plastic waste and recycling claims · Global · 2018–2026
Coca-Cola World Without Waste targets reset
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 3 insufficient · 1 not measured · 2 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Were the 2018 goals rescheduled or withdrawn?
- Company or project The Coca-Cola Company: Needed more time (Packaging Insights); intends to keep investing in refillable packaging where infrastructure exists (Waste Dive). Packaging Insights
- Press and investigations Mongabay: Reported the company 'cuts back on reusable plastic pledge' (headline), with the 25% reuse target removed and collection lowered to 70–75% by 2035. Mongabay
- Researchers Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Its November 2024 report on its signatories said they were unlikely to meet 2025 targets (recycled content 14% against 26%; virgin plastic down 3% against 18%).
Does the Ocean Cleanup partnership address plastic pollution?
- Communities and civil society The Ocean Cleanup: Collected 25 million kg of waste in 2025 and 45 million kg cumulatively; Coca-Cola has been a global partner since 2021. The Ocean Cleanup
- Communities and civil society Break Free From Plastic: Described the Coca-Cola deal as an 'end-of-pipe intervention' (as cited in the record).
In 2018 The Coca-Cola Company set packaging goals under its World Without Waste programme. In December 2024 it removed its 25% reusable-packaging target and its virgin-plastic reduction goal and lowered its recycled-content and collection targets, moving them to 2035.
50% by 2030 → 35–40% by 2035Recycled-content target: 2018 goal against December 2024 reset
Company targets as reported by Packaging Dive and Waste Dive.
Company targets as reported by Packaging Dive and Waste Dive.
Status As of the latest sources in the record (January to June 2026): the December 2024 targets are the most recent recorded; no outcome is recorded in the Los Angeles County lawsuit filed in 2024.
What?
Coca-Cola removed its 25% reusable-packaging target and its virgin-plastic reduction goal and lowered its recycled-content and collection targets in December 2024. Waste Dive
Where?
Global; Los Angeles County, California, for the lawsuit. Insurance Journal
When?
Goals set 19 January 2018; reset December 2024. Waste Dive
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- Environment (plastic pollution) — Coca-Cola accounted for 11% of branded plastic waste items in audits in 84 countries, 2018–2022. CSIRO
Why?
Packaging Insights reported the company said it needed more time. Packaging Insights
How?
The company published new 2035 targets and dropped the reuse and virgin-plastic reduction goals. Waste Dive
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
On 19 January 2018 The Coca-Cola Company announced packaging goals under its World Without Waste programme: to collect a bottle or can for each one it sold by 2030, to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025, and to use 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030. It later added a target of 25% reusable packaging by 2030.
In December 2024 the company reset the goals. According to Waste Dive, it set 35–40% recycled content in packaging by 2035 (30–35% for plastic) and a collection target of 70–75%, dropped its virgin-plastic reduction goal, and dropped its reuse target without a replacement figure, saying it intended to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists. Packaging Dive and Mongabay reported the same changes: the 25% reuse target removed, the recycled-content target lowered from 50% to 35–40% and delayed to 2035, and the 2030 collection goal (100% equivalent) lowered to 70–75% in 2035. Packaging Insights reported that the company said it needed more time.
Independent counts place the company's products at the top of branded plastic litter. A 2024 study in Science Advances (Cowger and colleagues) analysed 1,576 audit events in 84 countries in 2018–2022 and attributed 11% of branded plastic waste to Coca-Cola, 5% to PepsiCo, 3% each to Nestlé and Danone and 2% to Altria; 56 companies accounted for more than half of branded waste, and half of the items were unbranded. Break Free From Plastic's 2023 brand audit, published in February 2024, named The Coca-Cola Company first among the top global plastic polluters.
Coca-Cola has been a global partner of The Ocean Cleanup since 2021, which reported collecting 25 million kg of waste in 2025 (45 million kg cumulative). In October 2024 Los Angeles County sued PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, alleging that they misled consumers about recyclability and caused public harm; no outcome is recorded.
- 201819 Jan: World Without Waste goals announced (collect a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030; 100% recyclable by 2025; 50% recycled content by 2030)
- 2021Coca-Cola becomes a global partner of The Ocean Cleanup
- 2022Coca-Cola and Unilever say plastic credits are not a solution (as quoted in a 2024 Fauna & Flora publication)
- 2024Feb: Break Free From Plastic audit names Coca-Cola first; Apr: Science Advances audit study (11%); Oct: Los Angeles County sues PepsiCo and Coca-Cola; Nov: Ellen MacArthur Foundation report on its signatories; Dec: Coca-Cola resets its goals
- 2025The Ocean Cleanup collects 25 million kg (45 million kg cumulative); AFP and SourceMaterial investigate plastic credits
- 2026BEUC reports a French court ruling on Volvic claims and a Coca-Cola label change in the EU
What was said
Claims, in the words of those who made them.
“a bottle or can for each one”
“intends to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists”
“The top global plastic polluters of 2023 are The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, Mondelēz International.”
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Were the 2018 goals rescheduled or withdrawn?
Company or project
The Coca-Cola Company
Needed more time (Packaging Insights); intends to keep investing in refillable packaging where infrastructure exists (Waste Dive).
Packaging InsightsPress and investigations
Mongabay
Reported the company 'cuts back on reusable plastic pledge' (headline), with the 25% reuse target removed and collection lowered to 70–75% by 2035.
MongabayResearchers
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Its November 2024 report on its signatories said they were unlikely to meet 2025 targets (recycled content 14% against 26%; virgin plastic down 3% against 18%).
Does the Ocean Cleanup partnership address plastic pollution?
Communities and civil society
The Ocean Cleanup
Collected 25 million kg of waste in 2025 and 45 million kg cumulatively; Coca-Cola has been a global partner since 2021.
The Ocean CleanupCommunities and civil society
Break Free From Plastic
Described the Coca-Cola deal as an 'end-of-pipe intervention' (as cited in the record).
How it looked
What was shown, beside what was recorded.
Shown
- Collect a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030; 100% recyclable packaging by 2025; 50% recycled content by 2030; later 25% reusable packaging by 2030.The Coca-Cola Company, World Without Waste goals
- 95% of packaging designed to be recyclable (the record notes this is not the same as actual recycling).The Coca-Cola Company, as reported in the sources reviewed
Recorded
- December 2024: 25% reuse target removed; recycled content 35–40% by 2035 against 50% by 2030; collection 70–75% by 2035 against 100% equivalent by 2030; virgin-plastic reduction goal dropped.
- Packaging Dive reported the 25% reuse target removed and the recycled-content target lowered from 50% to 35–40% and delayed to 2035.
- Audit study of 1,576 events in 84 countries (2018–2022): Coca-Cola 11% of branded plastic waste, PepsiCo 5%, Nestlé 3%, Danone 3%, Altria 2%; 56 companies account for more than half of branded waste; each 1% of production share corresponds to about 1% of pollution share.
- The Ocean Cleanup collected 25 million kg in 2025 and 45 million kg cumulatively; Coca-Cola has been its global partner since 2021.
- BEUC reported that after a Paris court found Volvic's '100% recyclable', '100% recycled' and 'carbon neutral' claims misleading, Coca-Cola changed its label in the EU and Nestlé dropped the claims in March 2026.
- AFP and SourceMaterial (2025) reported that about two-thirds of plastic credited by four registries was burned or planned to be burned (about 84,000 tonnes of plastic, 237,000 tonnes of CO2); buyers included arms of Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Colgate-Palmolive in 2024.
- The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's November 2024 report on signatories to its plastics commitment said they were unlikely to meet 2025 targets: recycled content 14% against a 26% target; virgin plastic use down 3% against an 18% target.
Who gained
Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.
Reached nature or the ground
Not published
No figure published.
Gained elsewhere
Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.
Responses on record
- coca-cola (December 2024): Said it intends to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists (reuse target dropped, December 2024). · Waste Dive
- coca-cola (December 2024): Said it needed more time to reach its packaging goals (as summarised by Packaging Insights). · Packaging Insights
- coca-cola (2022): Said in 2022, with Unilever, that plastic credits are not a solution (as quoted in a 2024 Fauna & Flora publication).
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2024-10–Outcome not on recordLos Angeles County v. PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company (recyclability claims and public harm)Court not named in the record (Los Angeles County, California) · Civil · Los Angeles County → PepsiCo; The Coca-Cola Company
The county sued the two companies for misleading consumers about recyclability and on grounds of public harm, as reported on 1 November 2024. No outcome is recorded. Insurance Journal
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What nature saw
Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
Share of branded plastic pollution
11%
Coca-Cola's share of branded items in 1,576 audit events in 84 countries, 2018–2022 (Science Advances, 2024)
Recycled-content target
50% by 2030 → 35–40% by 2035
Company targets, 2018 and December 2024
Reuse target
25% by 2030 → removed
No replacement figure (Waste Dive)
Collection target
100% equivalent by 2030 → 70–75% by 2035
Mongabay; Waste Dive
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed Were the 2018 goals rescheduled or withdrawn?
- Disputed Does the Ocean Cleanup partnership address plastic pollution?
Court
- Unclear Los Angeles County v. PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company (recyclability claims and public harm): outcome not on record.
Record
- None on record The December 2024 reset set no replacement figure for reuse (Waste Dive).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper's 'Every Bottle Back' initiative was said to have committed $100 million and to aim to direct a total of $400 million to The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Coca-Cola sits on the board of the Circular Action Alliance, the sole producer responsibility organisation for California's SB 54, whose first five-year budget is $9.3–17.2 billion.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the Closed Loop Fund was set up in 2014 after a Walmart meeting, with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, Keurig and Walmart each contributing 5–10 million dollars.
Did the harm stop?
Not applicable: the record concerns corporate targets. The December 2024 targets are the most recent recorded.
Who paid?
Not established in the record.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers
Press and investigations
- Coca-Cola new packaging sustainability goals 2035Waste Dive · 2024-12
- Coca-Cola new packaging sustainability goals 2035Packaging Dive · 2024-12
- Coca-Cola cuts back on reusable plastic pledgeMongabay · 2024-12
- Coca-Cola calls back packaging reuse target as NGOs demand leadership initiativePackaging Insights · 2024-12-05
- Coca-Cola is largest known contributor of branded plastic wasteAxios · 2024-04-24
- Los Angeles County sues PepsiCo and Coca-Cola over plastic pollutionInsurance Journal · 2024-11-01
Communities and civil society
- BFFP movement unveils 2023 global brand audit resultsBreak Free From Plastic · 2024-02-07
- The Ocean Cleanup: 2025 in reviewThe Ocean Cleanup · 2026-01
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Coca-Cola plastic pledges and brand audits United States · 2018
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- PepsiCo (Company) — here: Co-defendant in the Los Angeles County suit; second in the brand audit; there: Beverage company; co-defendant in the Los Angeles County suit
- Los Angeles County (Public authority) — here: Claimant in the 2024 suit; there: Claimant
- The Ocean Cleanup (NGO) — here: Cleanup partner since 2021; there: Cleanup partner of Coca-Cola since 2021
- Break Free From Plastic (NGO) — here: Brand auditor and critic; there: Brand-audit organiser
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- Los Angeles County (Public authority) — here: Claimant in the 2024 suit; there: Claimant
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