Coca-Cola bottles in the UK will now have more recycled plastic in them.The drinks firm has announced that all 20 of its brands including Sprite, Fanta and Schweppes, will be made up of 50% recycled plastic by 2020.The move to boost the recycled content of plastic bottles is part of a new sustainable packaging strategy by the US company.It also announced that it will be investing in marketing and advertising to promote recycling.Coca-Cola has been the target of a global campaign by Greenpeace urging it to ditch “throwaway plastic”. The environmental group has been campaigning against the amount of plastic pollution found in the ocean.
Here's how the tide is turning on plastic rubbish in our oceans pic.twitter.com/ze02enwjGt
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“Millions of tonnes of plastics are ending up in the ocean every year, harming marine wildlife, taking centuries to break down and spreading toxic chemicals,” says Greenpeace.Jon Woods, general manager of Coca-Cola Great Britain, said: “Our packaging is valuable to us and we don’t want to see any of it end up where it shouldn’t.”All of our bottles and cans have been 100% recyclable for some time now, so in theory none should be littered. But we know that isn’t happening and that’s why we are going to do more.”As part of the company’s new drive, the recycled bottles will be made up of plastic sourced from the UK. Coca-Cola says that once bottles have been collected and recycled, they will return to shop shelves as part of new packs in six weeks. However, Greenpeace campaigner Louise Edge believes more can be done saying customers expect companies like Coca-Cola to make their bottles out of 100% recycled plastic. She questioned how they would reduce the “sheer scale” of plastic they were producing globally.Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
Source: BBC News