The report is organised into seven sections:
Nestlé Waters North America received the highest score on the scorecard, followed by PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Red Bull.
In developing a national recycling programme, survey respondents are most likely to support a programme with regulatory mandates that:
Two key brands, The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé Waters North America, have started to press publicly for state extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws for post-consumer packaging similar to those in place in Canada and Europe.
The Coca-Cola Company, an historical opponent of container deposit legislation, indicated that it is now neutral on a ‘voluntary’ system of deposits administered by associated industries.
Since the 2008 Waste & Opportunity report, there have not been significant increases in recycled content:
Companies whose primary business is not beverages are making commitments to increase recycled content:
Companies continue to make commitments to container recovery:
stlé Waters announced plans for a new PET bottle-to-bottle recycling facility.
In order to have strong buy-in for producer responsibility packaging legislation, the beverage industry needs to increase engagement and integration with stakeholders, and other industries such as consumer packaged goods and retailers who produce private labels.
Companies should put resources into designing packaging for recycling in a manner that includes full consideration of the end-of-life aspect of packaging and, where possible, promotes a full-scale closed-loop system.
Companies should use life cycle assessment (LCA) data to make decisions to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. LCA data can influence source reduction, the use of recycled content, design and materials decisions.
Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, two leading brewers, did not participate in this report although Anheuser-Busch has responded to prior surveys.
These companies should increase transparency to stakeholders through participation in surveys, as they are large contributors to beverage container waste and recycling streams.
Companies should apply the lessons from successful programmes in US states and other countries with high container recovery rates in order to improve US container recovery and recycling rates.
As You Sow
As You Sow is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to increasing environmental and social corporate responsibility. Founded in 1992, As You Sow envisions a safe, just, and sustainable world in which environmental health and human rights are central to corporate decision making. Its energy, environmental health, waste, and human rights programmes create positive, industry-wide change through corporate dialogue, shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies.
Source: As You Sow
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