Coca Cola has said that they refuse to give up their plastic bottles because it would reduce customer sales. Last year, the charity Break Free from Plastic stated that the beverage brand as the “most polluting brand” in an audit of plastic waste.

According to The Independent, the group found that 11,732 pieces of plastic collected during the cleanups were from Coca-Cola products, an amount that was more than the next top three global polluters combined.

In response to the report, Coca Cola representative said that they would examine the critical issue. “Any time our packaging ends up in our oceans – or anywhere that it doesn’t belong – is unacceptable to us. In partnership with others, we are working to address this critical global issue, both to help turn off the tap in terms of plastic waste entering our oceans and to help clean up the existing pollution,” they added.

The beverage brand also stated the sustainability initiatives taken by the brand such as World Without Waste programme. This was the statement given by the brand about the environmental sustainability programme: “This [programme] included a goal to recover 100 per cent of the cans and bottles we use, by 2030, so that none of our packagings ends up as waste and all of our bottles and cans are recycled and used again.”