The world has a packaging problem. Plastic bottles, cans, and other containers keep ending up in our oceans and waterways or littering the communities in which we all live and work. 

This is a problem we committed to help solve. In January 2018 our global CEO, James Quincey, announced an industry-first goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030.

Our program is called ‘World Without Waste’ and it signals a renewed focus on the entire packaging lifecycle, from how bottles and cans are designed and made, to how they’re recycled and repurposed. 

“Consumers around the world care about our planet. They want and expect companies like ours to be leaders and help make a litter-free world possible,” said James Quincey, president and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. 

“Through our ‘World Without Waste’ vision, we are investing in our planet and in our packaging to help make the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past,” he said.

Little Beach with white sand, beautiful sapphire blue shade of sea water, Mt Gardner at Two peoples Bay conservation reserve in Albany, Western Australia.

Our key commitments in creating a world without waste

As a global company operating in more than 200 markets, we established three fundamental goals:

  1. Make our packaging 100% recyclable globally by 2025, and use at least 50% recycled material in our packaging by 2030.
  2. Collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one we sell by 2030. 
  3. Work together to support a healthy, debris-free environment.

Here in Australia we’ve been working hard on improving the amount of bottles made from recycled material, on container deposit schemes, and with partners.

  • 7 out of 10 of our plastic bottles are made entirely from recycled plastic
  • 100% of our bottles and cans are recyclable
  • We support container deposit schemes to reduce litter and improve recycling rates in a community and to keep our bottles and cans out of oceans or landfill  
  • We work with partners to reduce plastic waste, clean-up existing waste and improve recycling

Globally, we’ve made strides in several key areas, with more work to come.

Here’s a top line look at the numbers:

  • 430,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of burning nearly a million barrels of oil, have been averted thanks to The Coca-Cola Company’s PlantBottle® packaging
  • 59% of the bottles and cans introduced into the marketplace in 2017 were refilled, collected, or recycled—with a goal of collecting and recycling 100% by 2030
  • 220,000,000 pounds of trash have been removed from more than 375,000 miles of coastline since 1995 thanks to The Coca-Cola Company’s partnership with the nonprofit environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy

Like any goal we’ve ever had as a company, we strive for nothing less than complete success: a world without waste. Read our full World Without Waste Progress Report, or follow us on this site and via our social channels to keep up to date.