Coke and Pepsi abandon the plastics lobby

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, two major sellers of plastic bottles, have made sweeping sustainability commitments. Now they are stepping away from a plastics lobbying group. Both soft drink companies are trying to increase the amount of recycled plastic they use in bottles. They want to improve recycling infrastructure and ensure their packages are recyclable. But the Plastics Industry Association has encouraged states to make plastic bans illegal. Participation in the group could tarnish Coca-Cola and Pepsi's images as companies working to find solutions to plastic pollution. The association took positions that "were not fully consistent with our commitments and goals," Coca-Cola said in a statement last week, noting that it withdrew from the group earlier this year. Pepsi said it had joined the association to learn about innovation as it works to "achieve a circular economy for plastics." "We do not participate in the policy advocacy work of the association or its subsidiaries, and our membership will conclude at the end of this year," Pepsi said. Coke and Pepsi "made the wrong choice" by being a part of the lobbying organization, said Dianna Cohen, CEO of the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition. The optics of membership, she added, "are really bad." Cutting ties with the Plastic Industry Association is a sign that "companies understand that they cannot publicly say they want to end plastic pollution, while financially supporting an association that lobbies for our continued reliance on throwaway plastics," said Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar in a statement. The move may help reassure some customers. But as people grow more worried about the negative impacts of plastic pollution on the environment as well as on animal and human health, companies like Pepsi and Coke will have to go even further to find a solution.