Petition launched to return bottled Coca Cola

By Marc Membrere 19 April 2021, 12:00PM

Environmentalist and President of the Samoa Conservation Society James Atherton has started a petition for global soft drink maker Coca-Cola to rethink their plastic bottle switch and bring back the glass bottles.

Mr. Atherton said he is disappointed with the fact that Coca-Cola is now only available in plastic bottles and he told the Samoa Observer in an interview that in his opinion it is a retrograde step.

He is of the view that the beverages manufacturer has increased plastic waste in Samoa but says he lacks data to be able to confirm that. 

Expressing concern at how the drinks maker replaced a system that was working, Mr Atherton said bottle collection also provided an income for families and is made from an inert substance that doesn't cause any environmental pollution.

"I think that their argument is based on economics but has not considered the environmental impact of the plastic bottles which they are producing billions of, every year around the world and much of them end up in the environment because we don’t have the recycling system in place to manage this," he said.

Coca-Cola's argument is that they are promoting recycling, bottles have recycled plastic in them and the goal to have the majority of plastic bottles recycled, which Mr. Atherton pointed out was great but added that it is time-consuming.

A process that will take years, and in the meantime Samoa already has a large amount of plastic waste to deal with, he said.

Mr. Atherton explained that the Government of Samoa is trying to phase out plastics but now Coca-Cola has done something without consultation that is going to make the task even harder.

In less than 24 hours his petition had attracted close to 100 signatures.

Asked about the goal of the petition, he explained that there is not a number of signatures he is aiming for and will leave it for two weeks before sending it to Coca-Cola.

Indicating that he has been in talks with Coca-Cola, he mentioned that they are reasonable people and do want to recognise that there is a problem.

"And they say they want to do something about it," he said and added that his concern is the timeframe to fix it when the country already has a big problem.

According to Mr Atherton, it will not be cost-effective to set up a recycling plant in Samoa and the reality is that we are going to have to ship the bottles off-island, and who have to rely on people to collect the bottles and put them in the rubbish bin.

"Most people, unfortunately, don't have time, are just not that bothered, that's the reality, and some people will put stuff in the bins but the majority of people will not, that's the reality of it," he said.

"Now we want to change that, and it will change with time but it is going to take years, and years and years and years."

With the petition, Mr Atherton hopes that Coca-Cola will rethink their decision and added that if they can get Coca-Cola to do it then it would be a huge example for others to follow and they can then start talking to other bottling companies and push them to do the same thing.

Switching to plastic according to Mr. Atherton is a wrong move for 2021 and with healthier options becoming available through the plastic switch, he argued that they can find another way to bottle drinks without using plastic bottles.

He said that what they are trying to do with this petition is raise awareness about the issue and maybe get Coca-Cola to rethink their policy.

It will also give those who love Coke an opportunity to buy their glass bottle which is more environmentally, friendly and tastes better.

"The drink tastes better in glass and you know we can reuse it multiple times," he said.

Mr. Atherton added that if the public is to discard the glass bottle then at least not to create microplastics.

"We the Samoa Conservation and our partners want to work together with Coca-Cola on solutions," he said.

Mr. Atherton explained that they want to find solutions that are a win-win.

The petition can be accessed with this link: https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/rob_priest_director_vice_president_operations_sout_coca_cola_please_go_back_to_bottling_in_glass_to_save_the_planet/?rc=fb&utm_source=sharetools&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=petition-1203854-coca_cola_please_go_back_to_bottling_in_glass_to_save_the_planet&utm_term=vAXvnb%2Ben&fbclid=IwAR3mKB_RtlCUn9ptRJQBHZGhuesilCvLvMx1SStaPfL9lISM0vvxYW4lpTE

By Marc Membrere 19 April 2021, 12:00PM
Samoa Observer

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