to be disappointed in coca cola

[ToTravelIsToLive]

They have announced they will not ditch single use plastic due to them being light weight and resealable. Every second 20,000 drinks in plastic bottles are purchased so even just ditching their mini plastic bottles for glass or alternative would make a huge difference! They are the global leader so could have set a precedent for others. When we were on holiday in Kenya they only gave out glass and you returned your bottle to the shop for a % of your money back. This was even in the most rural areas! In Germany I always remember seeing vending machines that you returned glass bottles to for € so it is possible.

YABU - I like the convenience of plastic and agree with coca cola

YANBU - I would not be put off / I would be more inclined to buy their products if they were in a more environmentally friendly package.

If they changed the kids on their glass bottles to screw caps they would be resealable.

A lot of products that were mostly sold in glass have recently changed to plastic such as peanut butter and ketchup. And I remember when supermarket milk came in cartons not plastic bottles.

I don’t think it follows that people aren’t concerned about the environment or they wouldn’t buy the item, often they are just buying what’s readily available or what’s cheapest.

I definitely don’t fancy using the glass of the person before me. They could have norovirus or who knows what.

Coke sell aluminium bottles in Japan.

www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2012/08/17/Japanese-study-finds-optimum-aluminum-bottle-opening-size-for-Coke-drinkers

I came on this thread specifically to recommend Belching Out The Devil but @SerendipityJane beat me to it. Coca Cola has been decimating the water table, exploiting local workers and ruining local economies for many years now.

So I'm currently sitting contemplating buying a soda stream, because this looks like quite a good deal on Amazon...
I've been working from home today, and what started as a quick break for a cup of tea and 10 minutes on Mumsnet has turned into a rather long procrastination!

sorry for the distraction @Retroflex! I'm stopping myself doing work too

I love diet coke but have been thinking I'm going to stop buying cans and bottles but occasionally have it when I am out and it's on draught. Water is better anyway and living in this disposable convenience culture is just not sustainable.

There's a petition about this on change.org

chng.it/L4nJ5QQnQq

Aluminium is a lightweight, resealable alternative and is infinitely recyclable. Plastic bottles are technically down-cycled anyway - so the aim of 50% recycled is utter crap.

Coca-cola is a generally shitty company, up there with the likes of Amazon and Unilever, but the fact is that they will continue to produce what they want until consumers start to vote with their money and boycott or go elsewhere.

My understanding is - and I am not an expert - that there are only 4 places in the UK that can actually recycle bottles and to recycle all the plastic that say it can be recycled we would need over 50. therefore 90% at least of all plastic put into recycling ends up in landfill anyway.

The only real way to reduce plastic is to buy less and that does mean not buying fizzy drinks or shampoo and conditioner in bottles - mankind has managed 99% of their existence without most of this stuff anyway.

Some plastic is needed and is an absolute miracle. My Grandson has a health condition that requires him to use plastic products every day - without these he simply would never leave the house and people with his health condition in the past would never have left the house. I would not want to see the clock turned completely backward and these real life changing developments denied because people want to buy over priced chemically flavored sugar water.

My understanding is - and I am not an expert - that there are only 4 places in the UK that can actually recycle bottles and to recycle all the plastic that say it can be recycled we would need over 50. therefore 90% at least of all plastic put into recycling ends up in landfill anyway.

Thankfully not in Malaysia, who quite rightly made the UK take back it's rubbish

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51176312

Malaysia is returning 42 shipping containers of illegally imported plastic waste to the UK, its environment minister has announced.

(contd)

Coke are not the only people to be using plastic bottles for packaging though.

We have a kerbside collection for plastic, as well as cans and glass bottles. So whatever it came in, it would go in our recycling bin.

DD1 nagged us for a SodaStream. The gas for them is £££. And the syrups are all nothing but artificial sweeteners. I use it to fix up water.

@ToTravelIsToLive I'm actually enjoying an adult conversation which isn't bickering over opinions! The little ones are still asleep, and I did get quite a lot of updates completed this morning anyway, more than I expected if I'm honest!

@Bhappy12 I'm physically disabled, work extremely long hours (both home and office based), I have 2 little ones, and I can honestly say that I find it a lot easier to shop using Amazon. Logistically for me to go "shopping" on the High Street etc, I would need my husband with me...

Meh, i will still buy coke, love it but we buy 30 packs of cans as we find its fizzier though, i rarely buy plastic unless out and about as the lid means no spills

I remember a few years back coke did limited edition aluminium bottles bit bigger than a can, little smaller than a plastic bottle. As fizzy as a can

The soda stream cola just dont cut it for me. DD and DP like other flavors in it but i only drink coke or V

We also get 10 cents back on each can or bottle, glass, plastic or aluminium here in south aus
Even the tetra milk cartons get the 10 cent return

We have a sodastream. We'd use it a lot more if we didn't have to travel 30 miles to get refills for the gas bottle.

In answer to the OP's question - I can't say YABU or YANBU, because I don't like Coca Cola or the company values, & I'd much prefer they (as many products as possible) went back to glass, paper, or other packaging. And that more shops offered an option for customers to bring their own containers.

That’s disgusting @SerendipityJane . Did the UK knowingly do this?

There was actually a community group around me last year, who were asking for empty plastic bottles, they were building some sort of "greenhouse" for teaching children gardening, and glass was deemed to be unacceptable when they done a risk assessment. I wonder how that project went for them... I had completely forgotten about it until now...

@ilovemyrednosedaymug Presumably the CO2 canisters would still fit?

I had thought about buying water kefir crystals again and adding premium cordial for the second ferment. This would give me lovely fizzy, probiotic goodness at a fraction of the cost of bottled pop, both in ££ and to the environment.

@Retroflex that's cheaper than the Lidl one!

That’s disgusting SerendipityJane . Did the UK knowingly do this?

I would find it hard to believe that a country which claims to be one of the naval powers of the world could miss 42 containers on the high seas. The real questions is where has the money that companies that were paid to recycle that waste gone to ? Funny that a single bag of flytipped rubbish gets forensically examined for proof of someone to prosecute, but 42 fuck-off containers of plastic waste ????? I bet no one is every held accountable.

At times I'm not really a great advert for age - it makes you terribly cynical.

@Retroflex not really, you could say the same of a consumer buying any luxury though. It makes sense to think about things like office clothes or cars because even environmentalists have no choice but to buy in one form or another sometimes (e.g. when they need to look smart for work and second hand won’t do - I’ve tried buying officewear second hand so I’d know- or have no other way to get their children to school - also speak from experience). Coke on the other hand is the very definition of wasteful consumerism. It’s not necessary because you can drink water. It’s not an improvement on drinking water (the opposite actually). There is no reason why anyone would need to buy it but they do anyway. If someone is willing to waste their money for no reason making a product slightly less bad for the environment isn’t going to appeal to them.

@Twenty2 you definitely seem to get a lot more for your money too! I'm holding off on ordering until my husband arrives home this will be the night he ends up working late he thinks I'm obsessed with kitchen "gadgets" In fairness though, I've been up all night in pain and with the little ones, and by the time he got up for work, I was ready to serve a homemade parmesan and sun dried tomato loaf of bread

I'm completely addicted to diet coke but I didn't know quite how bad it's ethical record was (70 litres of water to make 1 litre of coke ). Maybe I can use this as an incentive to cut back.

I only really like it in cans. I'll tolerate it in bottles but it just doesn't taste anywhere near as good.

I am feeling unbelievably stupid right now though. I thought the definition of single use plastic was that it couldn't be recycled . Coke bottles can be recycled, can't they? I've always put plastic bottles in my recycling.

I live in Germany. Coke 2L or 500ml comes in thick reusable plastic bottles here, you return them for a small credit, 10 cents I think. Then they also sell 1.5L and other random sizes in thin disposable plastic, you can also return these (and cans) for a credit of 25c.

You pay the "pfand" (credit) when you buy the drinks. All bottles have it. You pay pfand on plastic crates which hold 6/12 bottles as well.

Coca cola and some water companies are the only ones doing the thick reusable plastic type bottles though. Everyone else does thin plastic. You can get some glass 2L bottles (usually for water or fruit juice) but they are an almighty arse to transport anywhere because of the weight of them.

@Reginabambina a car is absolutely a luxury item.

But you are talking about a specific beverage, that could be extended to all beverages and food for that matter, being "wasteful consumerism" as you put it.

What you deem "necessary" I probably wouldn't even think about buying. I cook everything from scratch, I don't even own a microwave I have porridge oats for breakfast (with salt) it's actually the only thing I have salt with, absolutely no sugar in the morning whatsoever, and would never dream of buying sugar laden breakfast cereals, ever. (The exception being when I've made my own flapjacks for brunch when we go for a picnic), but I understand that I'm in the minority on the breakfast side of things.

And that's just one example. I never drink alcohol, I'm on a lot of medication, so there are literally no exceptions to that rule, again I know I'm in the minority of consumers, some of whom may only have one or two drinks, but it's different from never drinking, especially here in Scotland I don't eat crisps, chocolate or sweets either! Apparently thats unheard of to some people! I could continue with examples, but there's no point...