Coca-Cola says 99% of its primary consumer packaging around the world was recyclable in 2024, according to an annual environmental update. That’s an increase from the stagnant 90% it reported for 2022 and 2023.
During most of that 2024 period, Coca-Cola was working toward packaging sustainability targets pegged to 2025 and 2030, which it replaced at the end of last year with goals for 2035. Those goals include using at least 35% recycled material in primary packaging, increasing recycled plastic use to at least 30%, and on the back end collecting at least 70% of the bottles and cans it put on the market.
Coca-Cola reported that in 2024 it increased the rate of recycled content in its primary packaging globally to 28%. PET is its most-used substrate, and 18% of that was recycled PET. Coca-Cola’s total weight of virgin plastic used increased to 2.94 million metric tons in 2024, after declining in 2023 to 2.83 million metric tons.
Plastic bottles still dominate Coca-Cola’s portfolio
As for reuse, Coca-Cola reported 14% of total beverage volume was served in reusable packaging.
“The collection and recycling of beverage packaging remains challenging, as every state and country has unique systems, infrastructure, regulatory environments and sets of consumer behaviors. Collective action is needed to support packaging collection infrastructure and policies,” Coca-Cola wrote.
The company said it’s focused on “increased advocacy for well-designed collection systems,” including extended producer responsibility and deposit return systems, “as these are often the most efficient ways to improve packaging collection rates.”
The update comes about a year after Coca-Cola shared it was behind plan on meeting its 2030 recycled content and collection goals, and months later it announced new 2035 packaging sustainability goals. Competitor PepsiCo also reset its packaging sustainability goals this year.
Coca-Cola says its methodology for recyclability considers regions that have recycling systems in place, have a 30% or higher postconsumer recycling rate and represent at least 400 million inhabitants. Coca-Cola’s packaging updates pertain to the company’s actions as well as those of bottling partners and suppliers.
