Mount Franklin and Coca-Cola

 

The beverage giant is running a misleading public and political campaign to scare state, territory and federal environment ministers out of approving the proposed national "container deposit scheme". The scheme offers a refund of 10 cents when you recycle used bottles and if it comes into affect across the nation, we'd recycle an additional three billion bottles, or 330,000 tonnes of what would otherwise be landfill every year.

 

It's not the first time either -- Coca-Cola has been at the forefront of challenges to container deposit schemes the world over and even threatened legal action when the Northern Territory proposed a local scheme.

 

Coke thinks its brand is untouchable and that it can get away with this. But by targeting Mount Franklin -- a brand that positions itself as being clean, healthy and environmentally sustainable -- we can really make a dent in its public perception and make Coca-Cola think twice about its campaign to block the scheme.

 

 

Coca-Cola is actively campaigning against the scheme because it thinks passing on the extra cents to consumers will hurt its sales or decrease profit margins. But we would still have the option of getting this extra cost back at a redemption centre -- at supermarkets and council car parks, mostly -- and importantly, analysis shows the additional recycling would save about 1.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, 2.4 billion litres of water and reduce the volume of litter in Australia by around 30%.

 

We know the scheme works because in South Australia, where a container scheme exists already, a whopping 80% of all plastic bottles are recycled. The national average is a meagre 47%. The South Australian scheme has existed for 30 years and there are plenty like it around the world. Each time such schemes are introduced, companies like Coca-Cola are up in arms, yet the world keeps turning. That's why we need to expose Coke's campaign and tell them we support the scheme.

 

Coca-Cola wants to maintain Mount Franklin as an environmentally and socially conscious brand. It does this through its very public support for breast cancer initiatives and recently, a big push to use less plastic in its bottles. These are fantastic efforts, but we can't leave them unaccountable for behind the scenes lobbying to block a container deposit scheme. If we’re serious about recycling, the national scheme is our best option, so we have to make Coke quit bullying the Government and allow this important change to be enacted.

 

Early next year environment ministers from each of the state and territory will decide whether or not to implement the scheme, and Coca-Cola's ready to hit back at whatever they decide. Let's help build public support for the scheme by exposing Coke's anti-recycling campaign.

 

 

Thanks,

Paul and Kaytee the rest of us.

 

 

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Read more
Boomerang Alliance: Why we need a Container Deposits Scheme (CDS), 28 April 2012.